(For University of Iowa Senior Medical Students Only)

The Anesthesia Externship program is designed to be an enjoyable and profitable learning experience for senior medical students, and it has been successful and popular among senior students for several decades. There are twelve externs chosen for this year long program; and these are salaried positions.

The purpose of this program is to allow individuals to learn more about anesthesia, and at the same time, assist the on-call people in patient care. This assistance is rather open and may range from simply cleaning up a room, or setting up a room for an upcoming case to actually administering anesthesia.

The extern who is on call will report at 6:00 p.m. on Monday through Thursday evenings. The shift ends at 11 p.m. On Fridays the shift runs from 6:00 p.m. to Saturdays 7:00 a.m.  On Saturday mornings call starts at 7:00 a.m. and ends Sunday morning at 7:00 a.m.  Sunday call shifts start at 7:00 a.m., ending at 11 p.m. Holidays are 24 hour call like the weekends.

Externs will work as a group to make their own night call schedules. At their orientation meeting the group will select a Chief Extern. This person will be responsible for setting up the group’s meetings and coordinating the schedules for three month blocks. Schedules can be arranged so there is no conflict with a clinical clerkship night call. 

The Externship program begins in May the Monday before Convocation at 6:00 p.m. and extends to the following May prior to Convocation. Dr. James Choi is the Director and Kristina Staab is the contact individual for the Externship Program within the Department. Any questions relating to the Externship Program should be addressed to these individuals. The phone is (319) 356-7466, or by e-mail to james-choi@uiowa.edu.

If you feel the Anesthesia Externship is a program that you are interested in, it would be to your advantage to take the two week anesthesia clerkship 116:006 in your M3 year, by mid March if possible, and plan to take the clinical anesthesia clerkship 116:010 early in your M4 year.

The above information is meant only as a guideline to answer questions you may have. We encourage you to contact either of us and we will be happy to answer your questions in detail.