Data & Technology in Anesthesiology

Fellows shall be Board-Certified or Board-Eligible anesthesiologists.

Increasing responsibilities for the review and disposition of data and technology projects handled by the PPiQSO group.

Participation in leadership meetings such as the UW Medicine Clinical Research Informatics Committee.

Didactics shall include the most perioperatively-relevant subset of elements of the Clinical Informatics core curriculum published by the American Medical Informatics Association (AMIA).

Didactics will include a selection of coursework offered to Clinical Informatics fellows and CIPCT Masters of Science degree seekers by the UW School of Nursing or equivalent coursework in areas more relevant to the career goals and skills development of the PPiQSO fellow.  These include:

• NMETH 527: Introduction to Clinical Informatics (Fall quarter)
• NURS 524: Conceptual Foundations for Healthcare Systems (Fall quarter)
• NMETH 524: Healthcare Information Systems and the EHR (Winter quarter)
• NMETH 528: Computing Fundamentals for Health Professionals (Winter quarter)
• NMETH 529: Database Concepts and Application in Clinical Informatics (Spring quarter)

Additional anesthesiology-specific curriculum shall include:

• Anesthesiology information management system (application-side): HCI considerations, discretization, challenges, and patient safety factors in various designs.
• Perioperative data: assessing data availability and quality, approaches to warehousing and reporting, national registries
• Operations: anesthesiology informatics in assessing and driving key compliance metrics, perioperative efficiency approaches and metrics
• Quality improvement: nudge interventions, frameworks for designing and leading change
• Research: retrospective study design, metric design and assessment
• Special topics: waveform data, machine learning approaches

A capstone project developed early in the year, with minimum expectation of an abstract at a local, regional, or national meeting or peer-reviewed publication.  The topic must be broadly within the curricular areas defined above and, based on candidate’s interests, may be within one of the areas of operations, quality improvement, or research.

Please note:

• Completion of the fellowship does not lead to board certification in clinical informatics.
• The fellowship year cannot count towards requirements of the ACGME-accredited fellowship.

Education

The fellowship will focus on understanding anesthesiology information management systems, perioperative registries, perioperative data quality considerations, and the use of perioperative data to support operations, quality improvement, and research.

At completion of this program, we expect the PPiQSO Fellow to cover a subset of the core curricular requirements of the ACGME Clinical Informatics fellowship with a focus specific to anesthesiology and pain medicine.  Goals include:

• Fundamental informatics vocabulary, concepts, models, and theories
• How information systems and processes enhance or compromise the decision making and actions of health care team members
• The impact of clinical information systems on users and patients
• Clinical decision design, support, use, and implementation
• Leadership in organizational change, fostering collaboration, communicating effectively, and managing projects related to clinical information systems

Fellowship activities are primarily based at UW Medical Center – Montlake and Harborview Medical Center and include:

• Departmental Grand Rounds, Wednesdays 0630-0730 at UWMC-Montlake
• Departmental Academic Evening (once a year)
• Weekly PPiQSO meetings

Clinical Experience

Faculty fellow responsibilities will have 40% clinical service work. This time may be flexible depending on one’s educational and research interests.

Faculty fellows will work in the capacity as a junior faculty (acting instructor) in the operating rooms.

Research

The PPiQSO Fellow will acquire necessary research skills to be able to plan and conduct clinical/basic sciences research in an ethical and systematic manner and to write a manuscript suitable for publication in a reputed scientific journal.  They will develop analytical behavior, be able to review and critique published scientific literature, practice evidence-based medicine, and participate in development of clinical guidelines and protocols.  The Fellow will also enhance their teaching skills and will be actively involved in resident education in and out of the operative room environment.

Financial support: 

Competitive Salary: Faculty Fellow salaries begin at $120,000/year. Individuals who have already completed an ACGME fellowship prior to entering in their non-ACGME fellowship begin at $130,000/year.

Academic Allowance: Faculty Fellows in the Department of Anesthesiology & Pain Medicine receive an annual academic allowance of $1,500. Additionally, the department will pay for the ATLS student course. 

Moonlighting Opportunities: Extra internal clinical shifts above and beyond fellowship commitment may be approved at the discretion of the program director for eligible fellows. 

Program Director: Vikas O’Reilly-Shah, MD, PhD, Associate Professor of Anesthesiology & Pain Medicine, Director, Center for Perioperative and Pain initiatives in Quality Safety Outcome (PPiQSO)

Program Administrator: Leanne Cornel

Program Faculty:

Anjum Anwar, MBBS, Assistant Professor

Abhijit V. Lele, MBBS, MD, MS, Professor

Lance Patak, MD, MBA, Assistant Professor

Wil Van Cleve, MD, MPH, Assistant Professor

Andrew Walters, MD, Assistant Professor

Application documents 

Currently accepting applications for faculty fellowship program beginning Fall 2024.

Applicants must submit the following documents directly to our program: 

• Current Curriculum Vitae 
• Application for Faculty Fellowship
• Letter of intent/personal statement
• Three (3) current reference letters, including one from your anesthesiology residency program director or current director 

• Copy of medical school diploma 
• Copy of anesthesia degree (if applicable)
• Current medical license
• USMLE scores (all three steps)

• ECFMG documentation (if applicable)
• Documentation supporting citizenship status (we only accept US citizens or permanent residents)

Prerequisites

Candidates eligible for consideration must:

• have completed or will complete an accredited anesthesiology residency training program by the time the fellowship is scheduled to begin
• be a board-certified or board-eligible anesthesiologist
• if applicable, hold ECFMG certification
• have completed USMLE Step 3 or equivalent
• hold a valid license to practice medicine in the state of Washington by the time the fellowship is scheduled to begin
• be a United States Citizen or Permanent Resident

Candidates are further advised:

• The fellowship duration is one year
• Completion of the fellowship does not lead to board certification in clinical informatics
• The fellowship year cannot count towards requirements of the ACGME-accredited fellowship

Submit Questions & Application to:

Leanne Cornel, Program Administrator:  lmcornel@uw.edu