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Work with a labor and delivery team to make the childbirth experience safe and comfortable for expectant mothers. Take part in the thousands of deliveries every year at UNM Hospital with a rotation in obstetric anesthesiology.
As an anesthesiology resident, a rotation in obstetric anesthesiology will prepare you for a wide range of birth experiences and pain relief options. Residents become proficient in various anesthetic techniques, including:
You’ll be trained to evaluate and care for patients with high risk pregnancies, emergency situations or multiple medical conditions that may affect delivery. In collaboration with the high-risk maternity team, we take care of the patients with the most complex obstetric conditions in the state.
As a resident, you’ll work with state-of-the-art equipment on the Labor and Delivery ward of the hospital. A dedicated team including an experienced obstetric anesthesiologist and a well-trained resident is present on ward at all times.
Outside of labor and delivery, our team also cares for patients undergoing other routine and emergency obstetric procedures.
The UNM Department of Anesthesiology provides a fourth-year rotation with a broad range of exposure to the field of obstetric anesthesiology. You’ll gain a basic understanding of neuraxial labor analgesia techniques and the perioperative management of obstetric patients with emphasis on cesarean section delivery.
Residents experience mandatory obstetric anesthesiology rotations in their CA1 and CA2 years, caring for women who travel to UNM Hospital from all over the state and region. You’ll also have the option of an advanced, three-month, subspecialty track in obstetric anesthesia.
The educational program is offered by our faculty in the form of one-on-one clinical teaching and didactic lectures.
The Society for Obstetric Anesthesia and Perinatology (SOAP) Center of Excellence designation recognizes institutions and programs that demonstrate excellence in obstetric anesthesia care, sets a benchmark level of expected care to improve the standards nationally, and provides a broad surrogate quality metric of institutions providing obstetric anesthesia care. The University of New Mexico first received this designation in 2018 and received notice of renewal for 2023.
The criteria for the COE designation cover various domains including personnel and staffing; equipment, protocols, and policies; simulation and team training; obstetric emergency management; cesarean delivery and labor analgesia care; recommendations and guidelines implementation; and quality assurance and patient follow-up systems. The criteria for the SOAP COE designation, which covers all aspects of obstetric anesthesia care, were generated by expert consensus and incorporate evidence-based recommendations.
Emily McQuaid-Hanson, MD
Anesthesiology and Critical Care Medicine
UNM Hospital
2211 Lomas Blvd NE