Obstetric Anesthesiology Fellowship

Fellows will be integral members of the obstetric anesthesia team, training with board-certified and fellowship-trained anesthesiology faculty, maternal-fetal medicine obstetricians and neonatologists. Fellows will gain hands-on experience in comprehensive peripartum care and develop an understanding of how multidisciplinary care models impact patient satisfaction, quality outcomes and healthcare costs.

Fellows will apply evidence-based medicine and expert guidelines to develop optimal anesthesia care plans specific to patients with unique medical conditions. They will become proficient in the use of Point-of-Care Ultrasound in obstetric anesthesia.

Core Knowledge Areas

Additionally, fellows will develop an expert understanding of:

• Physiologic changes of pregnancy in relation to complex pharmacology
• Labor pain mechanisms
• Multimodal analgesia in high-risk parturients

Structured Didactics

Clinical experience is complemented with structured didactics, including:

• Weekly obstetric conferences
• High-yield lectures
• Journal club
• Grand rounds

These sessions are led by multidisciplinary faculty and cover essential core topics in perioperative and peripartum care.

Teaching and Leadership

Fellows will take an active role as educators to residents and develop educator techniques that will enhance the learning experience for the trainees. Additionally, fellows are required to prepare and present cases or topics pertinent to their subspecialty.

The program provides fellows with clinical time at UCI Health with a neonatal rotation, an obstetric rotation and operating room assignments. Fellows will be assigned to cases in the operating room as attending anesthesiologists. They will gain experience providing anesthetic care to a diverse patient population, allowing them to work independently. Fellows will have the opportunity to supervise and teach residents and medically direct Certified Registered Nurse Anesthetists (CRNAs) within a collaborative team-based environment.

Fellows have dedicated research faculty support and mentorship for scholarly activities and quality improvement projects. Fellows are strongly encouraged to submit abstracts and present cases. We provide financial support for travel to national conferences to present research.