Massachusetts General Hospital

Fellows will receive formal, hands-on training in the management of all aspects of the perioperative environment and will gain knowledge of the relationship of those environments within a larger healthcare system.

Fellows will interact with and learn from a variety of clinical and hospital leaders including clinicians and administrators in the Perioperative Services Administration, the Department of Anesthesia, Critical Care, and Pain Medicine, and other key hospital administrators. Additionally, the fellows will work with faculty from Harvard Medical School and Massachusetts Institute of Technology Sloan School of Management.

The fellowship program has three primary areas of focus:

• Management and leadership
• Finance
• Systems operations

The broad-based, comprehensive curriculum provides specific emphases on key perioperative challenges such as patient flow, manpower optimization, and materials management in the perioperative environment. While the focus is an understanding of these issues in quaternary hospital systems, opportunities exist for additional training in outpatient ambulatory surgery center management in the affiliated ambulatory settings.

Program Administration

The fellowship will take place in the Perioperative Services Administration and the Department of Anesthesia, Critical Care, and Pain Medicine at Massachusetts General Hospital. Under faculty mentorship, fellows will develop a research project in the field of perioperative administration. Fellows will be encouraged to think critically and will be responsible for conducting, publishing, and presenting the research. In addition, the faculty will involve the fellows in current aspects of ongoing research projects.

The program is a one-year non-degree fellowship. All fellows will be expected to complete a core didactic curriculum through selected course offered at the Massachusetts General Hospital Leadership Academy and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology Sloan School of Management. Fellows will have the opportunity to participate in selected national conferences in perioperative management.

Selected Ongoing and Completed Projects

1. Perioperative throughput initiatives – application of business principles
2. Block scheduling – open and assigned models
3. Preadmission testing process redesign
4. Workplace safety – slips, trips and falls in the operating room
5. Perioperative blood transfusion process redesign
6. Anesthesia manpower analysis and scheduling paradigms
7. Operating room and perioperative area expansion
8. Compensation system redesign
9. Modeling the impacts of demand and capacity in recovery areas on operating room waiting times
10. Surgeon profiling and operating room use

DirectorsPeter Dunn, MD, Program Director

Wilton Levine, MD, Associate Director

Aalok Agarwala, MD, Associate Director

Objectives of Fellowship Program

1. Produce a new generation of clinical administrators who will be able to effectively manage and lead perioperative departments
2. Provide the fellows with a rigorous didactic program and hands-on training in:

a. Management and Leadership

i. Project management
ii. Communication
iii. Strategic and Business Planning

b. Finance

i. Budgets
ii. Billing
iii. Purchasing Contracts
iv. Expense management

c. Systems Operation

i. Scheduling
ii. Resource management
iii. Process Improvement

3. Enable fellows to acquire and apply knowledge and skills necessary to conduct research

Faculty Expertise

Fellows will be supervised by the two program directors and other administrative leaders in the Perioperative Services Administration and the Department of Anesthesia, Critical Care, and Pain Management. Our departments consist of diverse groups of clinicians, administrators, scientists, and researchers dedicated to ensuring a successful fellowship for the candidate. The faculty has a wide range of expertise in many areas, including:

• Perioperative process monitoring and control
• Resource management (personnel, materials/supplies, equipment)
• Process improvement and system redesign
• Project management
• Database management
• Perioperative quality and safety
• Healthcare finance
• Research and education
• Joint Commission preparation and management

Selection into the fellowship is highly competitive. Individuals who have completed or are in their final year of an approved anesthesia training program and who have interest in perioperative administration are encouraged to apply. Applicants should submit:

1. A letter of interest
2. Curriculum vitae
3. Three letters of recommendation.

Please e-mail all materials and address any inquiries to MGHAnesthesiaPeriOp@partners.org.