The fundamentals of any Obstetric Anesthesia fellowship should not depend on epidural/spinal administration, labor analgesia and surgical anesthesia management. Our fellows become comfortable with the daily management of an obstetric anesthesia service. While this may include personally providing labor analgesia in the difficult to manage parturient (morbid obesity, myocardial dysfunction, valvular stenosis or regurgitation, CNS tumor, sickle cell crisis, pneumonia, etc), our fellows more importantly oversee both, junior and senior residents. This includes didactic lecture series/morning rounds, epidural/spinal placement, and OB ICU management. Our hands on practice in the intensive care unit includes pre, intra and postpartum care, for parturients who often present with a host of complicated medical issues. The fellow is expected as well to participate in various ongoing research projects, and to initiate a project of his own. A day a week is provided for nonclinical time to achieve this goal, as well as to maximize the fellow's knowledge base. While the call schedule is not fellow dependent, some call duty is taken to allow the fellow to further work on his independent decision making process.

Specific Goals:

• To become comfortable with the daily clinical management of an obstetrical anesthesia service.

• To help lead the didactic lecture series/morning rounds with the junior and senior residents.
• To become comfortable with managing the OB ICU.
• To participate in the various ongoing research projects on the service.
• To initiate a clinical research project.

Raphael Y. Gershon, M.D.
Associate Professor
Emory University School of Medicine
Chief, Department of Anesthesiology
Grady Health System
80 Jesse Hill Drive
Atlanta, GA 30303