Life at this Program

Hours and Duties

Average Duty Hours

Duty hours vary, depending on the rotation; for the last several years, the average duty hours have been approximately 52-55 hours per week. For the academic year of 2023-2024, the anesthesia residents have averaged 53 hours per week.

Frequency of Call Shifts

Call responsibilities vary, depending on the rotation. We have a night float rotation for OR call (beginning at 6 p.m. on Sunday and ending at 7 a.m. on Saturday). Night float is scheduled in two separate two-week blocks each year for CA1, CA2, and CA3 residents. OB has a separate night float call schedule. OB night float is approximately two weeks each year. In addition, residents take call (OB or OR) approximately four to six Saturdays and Sundays each year.

In the SNICU/CVICU, residents are on call roughly every third night - with specified days off to ensure compliance with duty hour rules.

Cardiac anesthesia residents take call from home approximately every three to five days (and share call responsibilities with the cardiac anesthesia fellow). Cardiac anesthesia residents get the next day off, even if they were not called-in to do a case.

Acute pain/regional residents take call from home. However, the in-house call residents can help out by handling simple problems (for example, changing the epidural infusion rate or replacing a pump battery) so that the resident does not need to come in from home for something simple.

CA1 residents do not start to take OR night call until October of their CA1 year.

Interns on the ACM orientation rotation (second half of intern year) do not take call. Interns on non-anesthesia rotations take call according to the schedule of the primary service (Medicine, Surgery, PICU, SNICU/CVICU, etc.). All services are expected to ensure that interns comply with ACGME duty hour rules. If interns (or residents) are having a problem complying with ACGME duty hour rules, they should contact the senior resident on the service, the anesthesia chief residents, or the Anesthesia Program Director. The Department of Anesthesia regularly monitors violations and works with the various departments to create solutions if chronic problems with violations exist.

Benefits

Resident Salary

From the University of Iowa GME Office:

Our stipend schedule is designed to provide each house staff member with income to maintain a comfortable standard of living in Iowa City and surrounding communities. The total compensation compares to the top training programs in the country.

Annual stipends are as follows:

Pay Grade Levels

Stipends

2024 - 2025

PGY-1

$67,000

PGY-2

$69,700

PGY-3

$72,700

PGY-4

$76,300

PGY-5

 $78,800

PGY-6

$81,100

PGY-7

 $84,800

The stipends are paid monthly, on the first day of the month (e.g., for appointments that begin July 1, the first stipend will be paid August 1.)

Insurance Plans

Through the University of Iowa, anesthesia residents are able to select between two excellent health insurance plans based on whichever is ideal for the resident and (if applicable) their family. The University also provides dental insurance, as well as basic life and disability insurance. UIHC also provides liability protection at no cost.

 

For additional information regarding the benefits provided through the GME at UI, please visit https://gme.medicine.uiowa.edu/benefits.

Leisure Activities

Social Events

In any residency program, there will always be some residents who are married, some who have children, some who are single, some who have pets, etc. As such, there may be residents who are more introverted or prefer to spend their hours off at home with loved ones. With the structure of our program (especially our beloved “Lounge”), we do often attract a number of social personalities, and as such, there is no shortage of social activities for residents who would like to spend time with other resident friends outside of the hospital. These are also great opportunities for our more introverted friends to join when they are feeling up for it!

In addition to smaller group get-togethers, we will have a few residency-wide social events occur throughout the year. This includes a “Welcome Party” at the beginning of the year, to celebrate our new interns and new CA-1s. We also host an annual “Halloween Party”, with full costumes expected by attendees. There is also typically an “End-of-Year Party” to celebrate the year and send off our graduates! In addition to these, we will have a few “Boating Days” scheduled throughout the summer, in which interested residents will rent a pontoon and spend the day out on the Coralville Reservoir!

Department Events

Certain events are hosted by the Department of Anesthesia each year. In the late summer each year, the Department of Anesthesia hosts a “Day at the Kernels”—a minor league baseball game in which the department reserves an entire section for all faculty, fellows, residents, CRNAs, SRNAs, and Anesthesia Technicians to attend. In December each year, the Department also hosts a holiday party, complete with an open bar and an Ugly Holiday Sweater competition! At the end of the year, the department hosts a graduation ceremony for the graduating resident class, which is always a very fun celebration of the residents’ hard work over the past four years.

Personal Events

Residency training does not mean that life gets put on hold. Each year we have residents who get married, become pregnant, have children, etc. As such, we are always attending birthday parties, weddings, baby showers, and other personal events for our friends! At this program, having a life outside of the hospital is encouraged and celebrated, and we certainly know how to make it a good time!

Intramural Sports

Each year interested residents will participate in various intramural sports to keep active and have a fun excuse to hang out with each other outside of work. In recent years, we have played flag football, volleyball (sand and indoor), and kickball. All activity levels and talent levels are welcome; we mostly just want to be active and have fun with it!

Iowa City Area Events

The Iowa City area (which includes Iowa City, Coralville, North Liberty, and surrounding smaller communities such as Solon and Tiffin) is an extremely active, friendly, safe, and fun community to live in. Being a college town community, there are obviously plenty of sporting events associated with the University of Iowa. There are also plenty of events centered around other interests, such as food, drinks, music, and the arts! A non-exhaustive list of various events in the Iowa City area are listed below:

Recurring Events:

Friday Night Concert Series

Iowa City Farmers Market


Annual Festivals and Events:

Iowa City Pride Festival

Downtown Block Party

North Liberty Blues & BBQ

Solon Beef Days

Iowa City Jazz Festival

Taste of Iowa City

Iowa Arts Festival

Northside Oktoberfest

The Lounge

Here at the University of Iowa, we are especially proud of our home base: “The Lounge”. Just above the main operating rooms, the anesthesia residents have a dedicated lounge space—complete with 1) a work area with 8 computers and a printer, 2) a full kitchenette and dining space, and 3) a chill zone with dozens of board games, multiple full-size couches, a large screen TV, and a few different gaming systems. This lounge is exclusively used by Anesthesia residents, requiring a passcode for entry that even the faculty anesthesiologists do not have. As such, the lounge is a safe space for residents to go during breaks and to hang out after work.

In the lounge, junior residents can ask other residents for advice on anesthetic management, and senior residents can tell stories on lessons learned over the years. It’s a place full of hilarious stories, vent sessions (as needed), and words of inspiration. At any point in time during the day, there is typically a handful of residents gathered around talking about how their cases are going, some fun music playing in the background, a couple of residents studying or working on projects in the corner, and occasionally a fiercely competitive board game stealing the attention of everyone else in the lounge! Even though we have fully equipped call rooms just across the hall, most of the residents on night float will choose to sleep in the lounge as a group instead (there’s plenty of room on all the couches and recliners!) … It’s like having a giant sleepover with friends!

During anesthesia residency, we are often working alone in the OR throughout the day without much interaction with our peers. At many institutions, anesthesia residents do not have a dedicated space and instead must utilize communal areas without the ability to discuss cases and learning topics freely. Here at Iowa, we are so grateful to have a space where we can hang out with each other and fully be ourselves. In a specialty that can sometimes feel isolated from your co-residents, it’s important to consider whether you need to have fun, stress-free interactions with your friends throughout the day to keep you going! Here at Iowa, we love our lounge because it’s the place where we can always find a listening ear, a captive audience, or words of encouragement.