Program Director Welcome Letter
Welcome to the Oklahoma State University Anesthesiology Residency Program!
Who are we?
We are a group of physicians who strive for excellence in everything we do. We are incredibly hard working and passionate about taking excellent care of our patients. We take ownership in everything we do.
We are team players who are dedicated to each other and our mission, and we make sacrifices for the good of the team.
We operate in humility, knowing our own strengths and weaknesses and striving for continuous personal and team improvement.
Why do we do what we do?
Everyone deserves a well-trained physician anesthesiologist to be in charge of their care during surgery. We exist to train resident physicians in anesthesiology to become excellent clinical anesthesiologists, and we train them to become stronger leaders. Our graduating residents are highly sought after. They shine when compared to graduates of other residency programs because of their clinical training, attitude, and ability to lead and function as effective team members.
What makes our program special?
We are a small program, traditionally taking 3 residents per class. This class size allows us to build comfort and trust between attendings and residents. Additionally, we incorporate early clinical exposure. Our PGY-1 residents spend one full day in the operating room with us each week throughout the year in addition to two full months. This uncommon setup allows us to give significant autonomy to residents and expose them to challenging cases early in their training. For instance, CA-1s are introduced to cardiac bypass procedures in their first semester.
Our program is run by a private practice anesthesiology group. This allows us to prepare our graduates extremely well for independent practice. Personally, I am passionate about educating our residents in the business of medicine and how to become effective leaders. Our didactic training includes topics such as organization health, finance, habits, time and energy management, and so much more.
We are a program that takes our organizational health seriously. We reinforce our culture continuously and focus on our values. We view ourselves as a family. Though we work hard, we also love to have fun as a group.
Though our hospital is smaller, our residents receive a tremendous clinical education. We perform complex cases at OSU with a patient population that often has complex comorbidities. Our training in regional anesthesia is exceptional. The perioperative division at OSU has buy-in regarding the importance of enhanced recovery after surgery strategies, including regional anesthesia. Our residents are performing complex nerve blocks and typically graduate with 5-10 times the required number of nerve blocks. Additionally, we have strong partnerships with other hospitals in our city and state. These hospitals serve as specialty rotation sites.
Please contact our program coordinator Melanie Calico to set up a rotation with us.
Aaron Relic, DO, MBA
Program Director
Clinical Assistant Professor of Surgery-Anesthesiology
Oklahoma State University Medical Center