title: Anesthesia preparation time is not affected by the experience level of the resident involved during his/her first month of adult cardiac surgery.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  This study was designed to answer the question of whether the experience level of the resident on his/her first month of adult cardiothoracic anesthesiology has an impact on operating room efficiency in a large academic medical center. Traditionally, the resident's 1st month of cardiac anesthesia had been reserved for the clinical anesthesia (CA)-2 year of training. This study analyzed the impact on operating room efficiency of moving the 1st month of cardiac anesthesia into the CA-1 year. The authors hypothesized that there would be no difference in anesthesia preparation times (defined as the interval between "in-room" and "anesthesia-ready" times) between CA-1 and CA-2 residents on their 1st month of cardiac anesthesia.
  
  
  METHODS
  This study was retrospective and used an electronic anesthesia information management system database.
  
  
  METHODS
  This study was conducted on care provided at a single 450-bed academic medical center.
  
  
  METHODS
  This study included 12 residents in their 1st month of cardiac anesthesia.
  
  
  METHODS
  The anesthesia preparation time (defined as the interval between "in-room" and "anesthesia-ready" times) was measured for cases involving residents on their first month of cardiac anesthesia.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Anesthesia preparation times for 6 CA-1 resident months and 6 CA-2 resident months (100 adult cardiac procedures in total) were analyzed (49 for the CA-1 residents and 51 for the CA-2s). There were no differences in preparation time between CA-1 and CA-2 residents as a group (p = 0.8169). The CA-1 residents had an unadjusted mean (±standard error) of 51.1 ± 3.18 minutes, whereas the CA-2 residents' unadjusted mean was 50.2 ± 2.41 minutes. Adjusting for case mix (valves v coronary artery bypass graft surgery), the CA-1 mean was 49.1 ± 5.22 minutes, whereas the CA-2 mean was 49.1 ± 4.54 minutes.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  These findings suggest that operating room efficiency as measured by the anesthesia preparation time may not be affected by the level of the resident on his/her 1st month of adult cardiac anesthesia.
authors.affiliation: Department of Anesthesiology, Ochsner Medical Center, New Orleans, LA 70121, USA. broussarddavid@hotmail.com
authors.forename: David M
authors.initials: DM
authors.lastname: Broussard
authors.forename: Michael C
authors.initials: MC
authors.lastname: Couch
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D000758:Anesthesia; D000776:Anesthesiology / Q000193:education; D006348:Cardiac Surgical Procedures / Q000379:methods*; D002983:Clinical Competence; D016208:Databases, Factual; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007396:Internship and Residency; D008297:Male; D009873:Operating Rooms / Q000458:organization & administration; D012189:Retrospective Studies; D013903:Thoracic Surgery / Q000193:education* / Q000458:organization & administration*