Our academic year is well underway, and now that the holidays are right around the corner, we wanted to take this chance to look back at some of the many achievements and memories we’ve made over the past six months.

In September, our CA-1 residents had the chance to participate in our Family Day, an opportunity for residents to bring friends and family to participate in simulations to learn more about what life is like as an anesthesia resident. In our new simulation space in Roper Hall, guests were able to practice intubations, central lines, nerve blocks, and other procedures on training dummies. They also heard from a panel of senior residents about how to navigate the challenges of residency.

In October, nearly 20 residents represented UNC’s Department of Anesthesiology at the ASA 2023 annual meeting in San Francisco. Residents presented on a wide variety of topics ranging from medically challenging cases to quality improvement initiatives. We were proud to have such a strong representation!

As part of their five-week Academic Medicine Rotation, each of our interns worked on designing and implementing a departmental quality improvement project. This is a crucial component of our time during residency as it not only gives our interns a chance to bond as a class, but also the chance to learn about critical literature appraisal, leadership within medicine, community engagement, medicolegal topics, and research and quality improvement processes. They recently had their class retreat in Asheville and then came back to Chapel Hill to present their QI projects to the entire department at Grand Rounds on December 13th.

We also had the chance to celebrate together at our annual holiday party. The entire department gathered at Governors Club this season to celebrate the holidays. It is always such a good chance to connect with everyone outside of work and have a fun-filled evening of food and dancing.

Residency can be challenging and exhausting, and it is easy to forget how much we all accomplish, both individually and as a group. We want to once again say thank you for all that you do and that we are proud of the hard work, compassion, resilience, and dedication that you bring to UNC to care for the patients you are serving. We are looking forward to an equally exciting 2024!

Damon Wallace, Jen Tripi, and Ashley Wicker
2023-2024 Chief Residents
UNC Department of Anesthesiology