The residency program in Anesthesiology and Critical Care is a four-year program to train medical doctors to become Anesthesiologists and Critical Care specialists who are able to work in hospital or outpatient settings.

By providing excellent clinical training and mentorship, our aim is to produce leaders in all realms of anesthesiology, including the operating room, intensive care unit, labour and delivery floor, and pain clinic. We develop and foster this leadership through discovery, translational research, implementation of evidence into practice, and dissemination of knowledge. Additionally, this program will offer the residents the opportunity to do clinical and translational research to educate physicians that will be able to undertake the academic career as well.

The aims of the Residency program:

• to train skilled specialists in Anesthesiology and Critical Care based on the six ACGME core competencies for Anesthesiology and Critical Care [Patient Care (PC), Medical Knowledge (MK), Professionalism (P), System-Based Practice (SBP), Practice-Based Learning and Improvement (PBLI), Interpersonal and Communication Skills (ICS).
• to train medical doctors to become specialists in Anesthesiology and Critical Care who will be able to apply their knowledge and skills in research, education and patient care services;
• To provide the program graduates with the foundation competencies in Anesthesiology/Critical Care to continue their post-graduate medical training in sub-specialties (e.g. Pediatric Anesthesiology Fellowships).

The career opportunities allow anesthesiology and critical care residency graduates to utilize their skills in a variety of environments and specialties, tailoring their career paths to their interests and the needs of their communities. And includes (but not limited):

• Clinical Anesthesiology – Inpatient and Out-patient (or, Ambulatory): Provide anesthesia in operating rooms and assist in managing patients' pain before, during, and after surgery; also, for the patients who do not require overnight stays
• Critical Care Medicine - Work in intensive care units managing critically ill patients, often with multi-system organ failures.
• Subspecialties – including Pain Management, Pediatric Anesthesiology, Cardiothoracic Anesthesiology, Neuroanesthesiology and others
• Academic Medicine – as an Educator or/and Researcher
• Leadership and Administration - Lead and manage anesthesiology departments, overseeing clinical practice, education, and research.
• Private Practice - Join or establish a private practice, providing services to one or multiple hospitals or surgical centers.
• Consultancy and Advisory Roles - Advise on medical legal cases, healthcare technology implementations, or pharmaceutical advancements related to anesthesia and critical care.
• Global Health and Public Policy - Work on international health projects focusing on critical care and anesthesia delivery in underserved areas; or, develop policies and strategies to improve healthcare delivery and patient safety in anesthesiology and critical care.

By the end of the Anesthesiology and Critical Care Residency Program, the residents should achieve the graduation target in the majority of the ACGME Milestones for specialists in Anesthesiology and Critical care, as follows:

1) Patient Care:

• Pre-Anesthetic Evaluation : To demonstrate the necessary skills to gather and interpret all relevant data in preparation for surgery; to determine necessary optimization, and to assign risk stratification in the pre-operative period (PC1);
• Peri-Operative Care and Management: To develop and implement a patient/procedure-specific anesthetic plan (PC2);
• Application and Interpretation of Monitors: To demonstrate proficiency in the use of monitors in anesthesia practice and interpretation and application of data (PC3);
• Intra-Operative Care: To safely deliver an anesthetic to all patients intra-operatively (PC4);
• Airway Management: To prepare and manage patient’s airway (PC5).
• Point-of-Care Ultrasound: To conduct and interpret point-of-care ultrasounds (PC6)
• Situational Awareness and Crisis Management: To recognize and respond to the dynamic milieu of the operating room environment (PC7)
• Post-Operative Care: To effectively manage routine post-operative care and complications related to anesthesia (PC8)
• Critical Care: Overall Intent: To provide care for the critically ill patient outside of the operating room (PC9)
• Regional (Peripheral and Neuraxial) Anesthesia: Overall Intent: To appropriately use regional anesthesia techniques in the care of surgical and obstetric patients (PC10)

2) Medical Knowledge:

• Foundational Knowledge: To demonstrate knowledge of medical and surgical diseases and pharmacology as related to peri-operative care (MK1);
• Clinical Reasoning: To develop a complete and prioritized differential diagnosis while minimizing the impact of cognitive errors (MK2)

3) System-based Practice:

• Patient Safety and Quality Improvement (QI): To engage in the analysis and management of patient safety events, including relevant communication with patients, families, and health care professionals; to conduct a QI project (SPB1);
• System Navigation for Patient-Centered Care: To effectively navigate the health care system, including the interdisciplinary team and other care providers; to adapt care to a specific patient population to ensure high-quality patient outcomes (SPB2);
• Physician Role in Health Care Systems: To understand the physician’s role in the complex health system and how to optimize the system to improve patient care and the health system’s performance (SPB3)

4) Practice-based Learning and Improvement:

• Evidence-Based and Informed Practice: To incorporate evidence and patient values into clinical practice (PBLI1);
• Reflective Practice and Commitment to Personal Growth: To seek clinical performance information with the intent to improve care; to reflect on all domains of practice, personal interactions, and behaviors, and their impact on colleagues and patients (reflective mindfulness); to develop clear objectives and goals for improvement in some form of a learning plan (PBLI2);

5) Professionalism:

• Professional Behavior and Ethical Principles: To recognize and address lapses in ethical and professional behavior, demonstrates ethical and professional behaviors, and use appropriate resources for managing ethical and professional dilemmas) (P1);
• Accountability/Conscientiousness: To take responsibility for one’s own actions and the impact on patients and other members of the health care team (P2);
• Well-Being: To identify, use, manage, improve, and seek help for personal and professional well-being for self and others (P3);

6) Interpersonal and Communication Skills:

• Patient- and Family-Centered Communication: To deliberately use language and behaviors to form constructive relationships with patients, to identify communication barriers including self-reflection on personal biases, and minimize them in the doctor-patient relationships; to organize and lead communication around shared decision making (ICS1);
• Interprofessional and Team Communication: To effectively communicate with the health care team, including consultants, in both straightforward and complex situations (ICS2);
• Communication within Health Care Systems: To effectively communicate using a variety of methods (ICS3);

All the Program Learning Outcomes (PLOs) are consistent with the ACGME Anesthesiology Milestones and their annotations. The Milestones provide a framework for the transversal and longitudinal assessment of the resident’s progression in all key dimensions, skills and competencies required for a medical specialty program (and foundation for a subspecialty program). The Milestones are arranged in levels; progression from level 1 to level 5 is synonymous with progression from a novice to an expert. For each reporting period, review and reporting will involve selecting the level of Milestones that best describes each resident’s current performance in relation to each specific LO.

On successful completion of the program, the Residents graduating from this Anesthesiology and Critical care Residency Program will be able to acquire an appropriate level of performance in all these milestones. In particular, Level 3 is designated as the minimal graduation target; however, making decisions about readiness for graduation is the purview of the Residency Program Director and Clinical Competence Committee (CCC).

STEP 1. Create your personal account

Register on www.admissions.nu.edu.kz portal to create a Personal Account. Read the instructions about the application procedure given in your Personal account.

STEP 2. Complete your Application Form and attach the required documents

Fill out the application form and attach the required documents:

1. Scanned copy of a National ID card or passport;
2. Scanned copy of secondary school or higher education institution certificate (attestat/diploma) with final academic performance or certificate from the school (spravka) according to the sample in the personal account;
3. Motivation letter in English;
4. Valid copies of certificates. The results of standardized tests must be sent directly to the University through test administrators.

STEP 3. Pay an application fee

The application fee is paid online via your personal account with a bank card.

The application fee is 10 000 tenge and it is increased 3 times from the established amount when paid within the last two weeks before the first officially approved deadline and/or during the extension period for accepting applications for participation in the admission process. This amount is non-refundable.

Step 4. Finish the registration process

Finish the registration process by pressing the “Submit application” button. After submission applicants can’t change their applications.

Step 5. Upload IELTS/TOEFL certificates

Upload IELTS/TOEFL certificates in your personal account in the section "Upload IELTS/TOEFL" and fill up the required information about the certificate.

Further steps

Check your e-mail for notifications from the NU Admissions Department and your personal account to learn about your application status.

If you experience any difficulties with the registration or online application, please contact info_admissions@nu.edu.kz. Refer to your IIN and/or Applicant ID while sending us your requests.

Online application deadline for the residency program: February 12, 2024 - June 10, 2024.

All registered candidates can check the status of their application in the Personal account. Description of the status below is presented in the order of assignment to the candidate in the Personal account.

Application in processing. This is interim status, which means that the application is being processed. Admissions Committee will evaluate the application and inform the candidate on further steps/stages. Notification on final results will be sent to your email address.

Does not meet entry requirements. The status is assigned to the candidates who do not meet the minimum entry requirements. It is given after checking the application forms and the documents by the Admissions Department.

Disqualified. The status is assigned to candidates who are disqualified for gross violations of the conditions of the competition. For example, provided deliberately false information.

Rejected by Admissions Committee. At one of the competition stages, the Admissions Committee decided to reject the candidate’s application.

Transfer to another program. At the stage of an application screening the Admissions Committee has decided to recommend the candidate for consideration by the Admissions Committee of another program within the same School.

Pending. Candidate’s application is pending.

Waiting list. The Admissions Committee has finished reviewing the candidate’s application and made a decision to put you on a waiting list. Such candidates should expect notification from the University, as there is a possibility that if other candidates reject to study, they may be sent an invitation letter to study.

Recommended for admission to program. Admissions Committee has decided to recommend candidate for the program without going through the Zero Year of Graduate programs.

Recommended for conditional admission. The Admissions Committee has decided to recommend a candidate for the conditional admission with a requirement to fulfill the condition by the deadline specified in the notification.

Withdrawn. Candidate decided to withdraw from the competition.

Accepted Program admission offer. The status is assigned to candidates who received offer letter, signed Enrollment confirmation form and fulfilled all the сonditions of the University indicated in the offer letter.

Refused admission offer. The candidate was recommended for admission, but refused to study.

Refused in favor of another NU program. The status is applicable for those candidates, who applied for several graduate programs at NU. The status is assigned when the candidate chooses another program.

Deferred. The status is assigned to candidates who were accepted for the program, but decided to postpone their studies until the next year.

Did not submit the documents/Refused. The status assigned to candidates who did not provide originals of the documents by the stated deadline, which means that the candidate refuses to study at University.

Did not come to Orientation week/Refused. The status is assigned to candidates who accepted the offer letter, provided hard copies of documents, but did not participate in Orientation week. The vacant place, if available, can be offered to the candidates in the Waiting list.

Enrolled to program. The status is assigned to candidates who enrolled to the main program by the Decision of the Provost. Candidate officially became a student.

The clinical curriculum relies upon the ACGME (Accreditation Council for Graduate Medical Education) Program Requirements for Anesthesiology and Critical Care Residencies and fulfills the ACGME Competencies and Milestones required for all residencies.

PGY-1

The “Intern” year (1st-year Residents) focuses on the clinical experience with patients affected with acute and chronic illnesses and admitted into several inpatient departments, with appropriate supervision from UMC Attending Physicians and/or NU SOM Faculty. The aim of the PGY-1 year is for the trainee to gain wide exposure to many fields of medicine. The goal is to allow the resident to gather a variety of information and skills and become a well-rounded physician.

The residents will pass through a series of 8-week rotations in inpatient and/or anesthesia departments (both general and subspecialty teams).

PGY-2/CA1 and PGY3/CA2

Junior residents will continue to build upon the clinical exposure they gained in PGY-1. The Introduction to Anesthesia rotation will continue from PGY-1 into PGY-2, allowing the resident to gain the basic skills and knowledge expected of an anesthesiologist. In addition, a wide variety of subspecialty anesthesia rotations will be undertaken after the Introduction to Anesthesia rotation is complete. This will allow the resident to further understand and gain experience with the depth and breadth of anesthesia practice. Internal medicine and critical care rotations will begin to help fulfill the requirements of an anesthesiologist to provide advanced perioperative medical intervention to patients. Overall the residents should have a working knowledge of anatomy, pharmacology, physics, pathology, and physiology as it pertains to anesthesia.

PGY-4/CA3

Senior residents will continue to engage in a variety of subspecialty rotations and round out their internal medicine and critical care rotations. It is expected by the end of PGY-4 that residents will have an in-depth understanding of the scope of anesthesia practice. PGY-4 will focus on areas that may require additional work or exposure. In addition, residents will be expected to have the clinical responsibilities (with appropriate back-up) of a junior consultant and be able to apply knowledge of anatomy, pharmacology, physics, pathology, and physiology in daily practice without excessive guidance. PGY-4 procedures should for, the most part, be performed at the level of expertise of a junior consultant.