Arthur edits survival guide for anesthesiology residents

Dr. Mary Arthur, director of the anesthesiology residency program at the Medical College of Georgia at Augusta University, is the editor of Anesthesiology CA-1 Pocket Survival Guide, a new book designed to help new anesthesiology residents better navigate the transition from their intern year to the first clinical training year.

The guidebook, which is available from Oxford University Press this month, walks residents through a variety of topics, from what to expect from training to what tests they should prepare for, from pre-anesthesia patient evaluation to crisis management in the perioperative setting. It is aimed specifically at residents entering their second postgraduate year, known as CA-1, the first year they start assisting on cases.

The idea originated with Dr. David Fritz, a former chief anesthesiology resident and pain medicine fellow at MCG and AU Health. “As a senior resident, he had put something together for CA-1 residents which walked them through things they would encounter in that first year,” Arthur says. “All of the residents were carrying around copies of it and there wasn’t really anything else out there like it. I went to him and asked how we could expand this.”

Arthur approached publishers at Oxford University Press who were interested in the concept, but wanted a book that was applicable to a wider range of programs. “They wanted to make sure it wasn’t just tailored to MCG,” Arthur says.

With the help of her MCG colleague Dr. Effrain Riveros Perez, assistant professor of anesthesiology, she approached colleagues at training programs across the country and asked them to contribute. The book has chapters written by anesthesiologists from MCG, the University of Kentucky, the University of Colorado and the Cleveland Clinic. Nadine Odo, a research associate and medical writer at MCG, and Rhonda Powell, a technical illustrator at AU, also contributed. Fritz declined because of time constraints during his fellowship training.

“This will be out there as a resource, and our hope is that other residency programs find it useful,” Arthur says.