C-AA study plan

Derive a plasma concentration–time curve for an intravenous bolus from a two-compartment model, labeling distribution, redistribution, and elimination phases.

Calculate loading and maintenance doses for propofol, fentanyl, and remifentanil from volume of distribution, clearance, and context-sensitive half-time values you look up and cite.

Explain how minimum alveolar concentration is determined experimentally and predict how age, hypothermia, pregnancy, and co-administered opioids or nitrous oxide shift it.

Map the primary receptor targets (GABA-A, NMDA, mu-opioid, alpha-2, sodium channels) of the ten agents you will use most often and state one clinical consequence of each.

Diagram the anesthesia machine gas pathway from cylinder or pipeline inlet to scavenger, labeling regulators, fail-safe devices, oxygen supply pressure alarm, and check valves.

Perform a complete machine and breathing-circuit checkout from memory in the standard sequence, narrating the purpose of each step aloud.

Compare the circle system with Mapleson A through F and Bain circuits on rebreathing, resistance, and minimum fresh gas flow for spontaneous and controlled ventilation.

Predict how induction of anesthesia changes functional residual capacity, dead space, shunt, and closing capacity, and state the monitoring implication of each change.

Interpret capnography waveforms for bronchospasm, esophageal intubation, circuit disconnection, exhausted absorber, and cardiac oscillations, and state the corrective action for each.

Explain the physiologic basis of pulse oximetry and list five conditions that make a normal reading unreliable.

Distinguish the five ventilator modes you will encounter by trigger, limit, and cycle variables, and select an initial setting for an obese patient and for a patient with severe COPD.

Describe how to level, zero, and interpret an arterial line tracing, including the effect of over- and under-damping on systolic and diastolic readings.

Explain the limits, artifacts, and interpretation of ECG, noninvasive blood pressure, temperature, neuromuscular blockade, and processed EEG monitoring.

Assemble a preanesthetic history and physical that reliably captures cardiac, pulmonary, renal, hepatic, neurologic, and hematologic risk, including a complete medication and allergy review.

Assign ASA physical status and functional capacity classification to ten written case vignettes and justify each assignment in one sentence.

Perform and document an airway assessment using thyromental distance, mouth opening, Mallampati class, cervical mobility, and prior airway history, then stratify each patient as routine or difficult.

Select preoperative laboratory and diagnostic testing based on indication rather than routine ordering, and defend each test you keep.

Formulate perioperative plans for patients with coronary disease, heart failure, severe COPD, obstructive sleep apnea, diabetes, and chronic kidney disease, naming the specific optimization step and time interval.

Apply current fasting intervals, premedication indications, and anticoagulant and antiplatelet interruption rules to five written scenarios, citing the interval you used.

Identify the elements of informed consent for anesthesia and rehearse explaining three material risks in plain language.

Recognize the findings that justify delaying or cancelling a case and state the escalation pathway you would use.

Sequence induction and airway management for a routine adult, a full-stomach patient, and a predicted difficult airway, naming the drugs, doses, and backup devices at each step.

Justify intraoperative maintenance choices, including volatile versus total intravenous anesthesia, fresh gas and oxygen flow, and neuromuscular blockade monitoring and reversal.

Calculate maintenance fluid, blood loss replacement, and transfusion triggers for two written cases using patient weight and starting hematocrit.

Describe positioning and protective measures that prevent pressure injury, nerve injury, corneal injury, and hypothermia during a four-hour case.

Write action sequences for malignant hyperthermia, local anesthetic systemic toxicity, anaphylaxis, laryngospasm, and cannot-intubate cannot-oxygenate.

Apply extubation criteria and describe the management of emergence delirium, laryngospasm, and residual neuromuscular blockade in the immediate postoperative period.

Deliver a structured handoff to the postanesthesia care unit using a fixed format and score a patient on the Aldrete criteria.

Differentiate and manage postoperative nausea and vomiting, hypoxemia, hypoventilation, hypotension, hypothermia, and acute pain using a stepwise approach.

Explain the mechanisms, presentation, and management of postoperative respiratory failure, myocardial injury, delirium, and surgical-site complications.

Distinguish spinal, epidural, and peripheral nerve blockade complications, including post-dural puncture headache and local anesthetic systemic toxicity.

Explain informed consent, documentation standards, and the anesthesiologist's obligations in an adverse event disclosure.

Describe how quality improvement, incident reporting, and root-cause analysis reduce anesthesia-related harm, using one concrete example.

Analyze the systems and human factors that contribute to medication errors and wrong-site procedures, and name three prevention strategies for each.

Outline the ethical and legal framework for do-not-resuscitate orders in the operating room, capacity assessment, and surrogate decision-making.

Synthesize all five domains by reviewing every missed practice-exam item and writing the underlying concept rather than the answer.