Mid-April marked the end of the University of Florida College of Medicine’s Transition to Residency course led by Amanda Frantz, M.D., and organized by the UF Department of Anesthesiology. This three-week course is designed to prepare medical students for their next steps as residents and is the capstone to their medical education. Frantz, assistant professor of anesthesiology, took over as director of the course this year, and it was the largest class to participate with 151 medical students.
For the first two weeks, all of the students came together for lectures on topics from ethics and antibiotics to wellness and investing. In the third week, students were divided into groups based on their educational direction: adult, pediatric, and perioperative. Nancy Joseph, MBBS, assistant professor of pediatrics, and Andrew Shychuk, M.D., assistant professor of internal medicine, assisted Frantz in organizing the pediatric and adult pathways.
Medical students in the perioperative group, which included those going into the field of anesthesiology, participated in a hands-on workshop, rotating through ten stations. They trained on adult airway, arterial and central lines, bronchoscopy, chest tubes, intraosseous access, peripheral intravenous line using ultrasound, lumbar puncture, defibrillation, and transesophageal and transthoracic echocardiography.
Faculty, fellows, and residents from the UF Departments of Anesthesiology and Surgery led the simulation training, however, this course is truly a multidisciplinary effort. Many thanks to our colleagues from the Departments of Emergency Medicine, Community Health and Family Medicine, Hematology, Medicine, Neurology, Nephrology, Ophthalmology, Pediatrics, and Radiology for their assistance in making this year’s course a success.