Anesthesiology and Perioperative Medicine

Pediatric Anesthesiology Fellowship Program

The Pediatric Anesthesia Fellowship Program provides one year of comprehensive training in providing anesthesia for neonates, infants and children undergoing:

  • Surgical procedures
  • Diagnostic and therapeutic non-surgical procedures
  • Acute and chronic pain management

It also covers an overview of intensive care issues for pediatric patients. Every year, one or two candidates are accepted into the Pediatric Anesthesiology Fellowship Program at Tufts Medical Center.

Our ACGME-accredited 12-month fellowship qualifies successful graduates as pediatric anesthesiologists and fulfills the requirements of this and most other institutions for credentialing of anesthesiologists who provide anesthesia for neonatal and pediatric patients.

The period spent in the fellowship can be no less than 12 months, with no more than one interrupted period due to reasonable circumstances.

The Fellowships aims to provide a broad clinical experience in pediatric anesthesiology fostering proficiency in providing excellent care to neonates, infants, children, and adolescents undergoing a wide variety of surgical, diagnostic, and therapeutic procedures.

The academic year is broadly divided as follows:

INTERNAL ROTATIONS

  • 8 months are spent learning core pediatric anesthesia skills in the Main Operating Room, Ambulatory Surgery, and Off-Site Anesthesia locations (which include MRI, CT, Interventional Radiology, Nuclear Medicine and Radiation Oncology)
  • 1 month of Neonatal and Pediatric Intensive Care training (NICU and PICU within Tufts Medical Center and the Tufts Medical Center)

EXTERNAL ROTATIONS

  • 1 month of dedicated Acute Perioperative Pain Management at Boston Children’s Hospital
  • 1 month of dedicated Pediatric Cardiac Anesthesia at Boston Children’s Hospital
  • 2 week Pediatric Burns experience at Shriner’s Hospital for Children in Boston.

The Pediatric Anesthesia Fellowship provides one year of comprehensive training in pediatric anesthesia and related diagnostic and therapeutic procedures involving infants and children.

This fellowship qualifies successful graduates as specialists in pediatric anesthesia and fulfills the requirements of this and most other institutions for credentialing of anesthesiologists who provide anesthesia for the preterm infant, neonate, infant or child undergoing surgery.

By the end of your training, you will experience:

  1. Complex pediatric surgical case scenarios
  2. Training in the application of a variety of regional anesthetic techniques
  3. Placement of invasive monitoring catheters and large bore intravenous access lines in both very young as well as older children
  4. Teaching and supervision of junior residents
  5. In-depth understanding of normal pediatric physiology; pathophysiology of congenital cardiac disease and many other conditions; the typical pathophysiology of the pre-term infant; and psychological/behavioral issues distinguishing neonates, infants, toddlers and school-age children
  6. Opportunities to participate in ongoing clinical research
  7. Techniques for appropriate non-threatening interactions with pediatric patients and their families
  8. Anesthetic care of healthy neonates and infants for outpatient surgery
  9. Anesthetic care of infants and children with complex congenital cardiac disease undergoing diagnostic and therapeutic procedures, both surgical and less invasive techniques
  10. Separation from cardiopulmonary bypass
  11. Anesthetic care of pediatric patients undergoing hepatic transplantation
  12. Placement of invasive monitoring and securing IV access in small infants and neonates
  13. Placement of epidural catheters at various anatomic levels in the pediatric patient
  14. Administration of spinal anesthesia to infants
  15. Administration of anesthesia to children in a variety of non-OR sites, including the MRI suite and cardiac catheterization lab
  16. Introductory training in pediatric intensive care as well as acute and chronic pain management in children
  17. Creation of a formal presentation to the residents and other clinical teaching opportunities

Evaluation of fellows

Fellows are evaluated via the new innovations online portal. The evaluation format is based on the six core ACGME competencies. At the end of the first six months, the fellowship director gives a formal evaluation. This is good opportunity and forum for both the fellow and the fellowship director to discuss overall feedback, goals and objectives and areas of concern.

A final evaluation is done on completion of the fellowship program. “360 degree” evaluations are used during the year to get feedback from other health care providers (surgeons, nursing staff and ancillary support staff), patients and their families.

Fellows complete their training at Tufts Medical Center, a world-class academic medical center located in Boston and the principal teaching hospital for Tufts University School of Medicine. It also sponsors nineteen specialty ACGME-accredited clinical training programs.

Tufts Medical Center is a 415-bed robust organization, providing everything from routine medical care to treating the most complex diseases affecting adults and children. Tufts Medical Center is also home to the Tufts Medical Center, a full-service children's hospital dedicated exclusively to all levels of pediatric care.

Tufts Medical Center provides heart, kidney and bone marrow transplants, is a level I trauma center, provides comprehensive neurological and neurosurgical care, and offers cutting-edge cancer treatments.

Tufts Medical Center is also home to The Boston Gamma Knife Center, the first and only Gamma Knife Center in Massachusetts and northern New England.

All candidates for the fellowship program must be currently enrolled in an ACGME-accredited core residency program, or be a recent graduate from such a program. They must be eligible for a Massachusetts Medical License.

The Tufts Medical Center Pediatric Anesthesia Fellowship Program offers 2 positions each year through the NRMP Match. Preferred fellowship training start dates are July 1st, or August 1st, however under special circumstances, variable start dates can be negotiated.

Applications for our one-year ACGME Accredited Pediatric Anesthesiology fellowship are accepted through the Electronic Residency Application Service (ERAS) only. Our ACGME Program ID for your reference is – 0422421026 – Tufts Medical Center Program.

The deadline for submission of applications through ERAS is May 31st. All letters of recommendation should be addressed to the fellowship director, Dr. Aman Kalra.

Selected candidates will be offered interviews beginning April through late August.

Please do not send application materials directly to us.

If you have any questions regarding the application process, please contact our program coordinator Nichole Formicola.

Nichole Formicola
Program Coordinator, Pediatric Anesthesia Fellowship Program
Department of Anesthesiology, Tufts Medical Center
800 Washington Street, Box 298
Boston, MA 02111
Phone: 617-636-2615
Fax: 617-636-8384
Email: nformicola@tuftsmedicalcenter.org

Salary is monthly and based on an annual stipend.

Graduate Medical Education (GME) stipend levels

  • PGY1   $60,170.00
  • PGY2   $62,440.00
  • PGY3   $65,370.00
  • PGY4   $68,455.00
  • PGY5   $72,005.00
  • PGY6   $76,180.00
  • PGY7   $78,830.00

Vacation time includes fifteen working days and five CME days per year.

To learn more, contact:

Nichole Formicola, MHA
Manager, Anesthesiology Education Programs
Department of Anesthesiology, Tufts Medical Center
800 Washington Street, Box 298
Phone: 617-636-2615
Fax: 617-636-8384
Email: nformicola@tuftsmedicalcenter.org

Aman Kalra, MD
Chief, Division of Pediatric Anesthesia
Director, Pediatric Anesthesia Fellowship Program
Clinical Associate Professor of Anesthesiology
Department of Anesthesiology and Perioperative Medicine
Tufts Medical Center
800 Washington Street, Box 298
Boston, MA 02111
Tel: 617 636 3230
Fax: 617 636 8384
www.tuftsmedicalcenter.org/anesthesiology
www.maskinduction.com (Our Division’s Digital Pediatric Anesthesia Handbook)