Welcome
Message from the Vice Chair for Clinical Operations
The Department of Anesthesia has been a pioneer in teaching, research, and clinical care for decades. In the early 1900s, it created the nation's first formal residency training program within a major university. Today the department's members deliver anesthetic, analgesic, sedation, intensive care, and pain management services to University of Iowa Hospitals & Clinics patients—both adults and children—in a safe and efficient manner.
When you need surgery or a procedure requiring sedation, our anesthesiologists and pain management specialists work with surgeons and other team members to provide the highest level of safe, effective care.
Our faculty members are active in both basic science research and clinical investigations, particularly in the areas of operating room management, critical care, cardiothoracic anesthesia, airway management, neurosurgical anesthesia, obstetric anesthesia, acute and chronic pain medicine, patient simulation, pediatrics, and perioperative infection. Our faculty members train the next generation of anesthesia providers including residents, fellows in anesthesia specialties, and student registered nurse anesthetists. Anesthesia education promotes the development of exceptional clinical skills and judgment in anesthesia with an emphasis on quality of care and comprehensive risk management. We provide anesthesia using a team approach. Our teams include physician anesthesiologists and certified registered nurse anesthetists (CRNAs). Advanced practice nurses work with our physicians in the ICUs.
You want an expert working on your side when it comes to managing the pain of a surgical procedure, an injury, or a long-term disease. When you need surgery, you want someone who completely evaluates your preoperative health. You want an expert who can provide safe anesthesia, even if you have heart or lung disease, and/or have rare and difficult to manage medical conditions—someone who can take care of all of you during surgery, not just put you under an anesthetic. When your child needs surgery, you want specialized pediatric anesthesia care available at any time of the day or night.