The Department of Anesthesiology and Perioperative Medicine at the Medical College of Georgia at Augusta University is now part of the continuing medical education network for the country’s largest physician-led group of anesthesiologists.

The department, along with the AU Interdisciplinary Simulation Center, has been approved as part of the American Society of Anesthesiologists Simulation Education Network. As part of the network, the simulation center, the first to be approved in Georgia, will be a site for part of the Maintenance of Certification in Anesthesiology (MOCA) training program — a requirement of the American Board of Anesthesiology.

Anesthesiologists from all over the country are required to be MOCA certified every 10 years, says Dr. Vikas Kumar, the department’s director of simulation for medical students and residents. Part of that training exam includes simulated clinical scenarios that are designed to assess and improve physicians’ skills in managing critical events, like someone coding under anesthesia for instance.

“Our simulation center is such a wonderful resource,” says Kumar, who worked with faculty and staff from the simulation center and the MCG Educational Simulation Team to apply to be a simulation education network site. “When I was taking my MOCA, I thought to myself we should utilize the tools we have here and become a MOCA site. Being part of the network is great exposure for the program nationwide, it also helps us continue to attract the highest caliber faculty and residents to our program.”