MEMBER NEWS

The SNACC Neuroanesthesia Quiz Team- A Quizzical Force!

Our Heart is in the Brain – quoted by Dr. W. Andrew Kofke

Shobana Rajan, MD
Chair of Trainee Engagement Committee

By the end of every month, the neuroanesthesia quiz team is busy critiquing the five proposed questions for the subsequent month’s ‘Neuroanesthesia Quiz’. By the time the five pairs of eyes have scrutinized for slips and errors, crossed the t’s and dotted the i’s, the perfect quiz is ready for the press!  

Why a Quiz? We are all scientists and we strive to find the answer to a question, especially if the answer is right under our noses, camouflaged by distractors. It is exciting, thrilling, and fun yet it stimulates learning and yearning for more! The world of education has changed. Gone are the days of didactic lectures. The current generation of students are inquisitive and like to learn at their own pace. The exposure to a quiz also gives the student a taste of the impending examination. 

This is what the members of the ‘Neuroanesthesia Quiz-Team’ have to say:

Shobana Rajan - The Organizer
I have been on the quiz team since the initiation of the concept of having a “quiz every month” for the SNACC members. Dr. Deepak Sharma, current President of SNACC and the Education Committee Chair in 2015, was our enthusiastic mentor to this concept. Dr. Shaheen Shaikh and I formed the first quiz team. We tried different formats to bring out the message of neuro-anesthesia in an interesting and interactive format and have been striving ever since to improve the experience for our members. 

As someone who did a second residency in anesthesiology in the USA, I had the opportunity to become a learner again. I was able to see through the eyes of our current millennials how important it was for any teaching to be interactive and to the point. Old methods of PowerPoint lecturing did not mean much to these on-the-go, restless, and inquisitive learners. I felt that quizzing would be a great way to meet the needs of education if implemented and delivered in a fun way. That is the story of how my journey started in quizzing. This dedicated team of five members whom we currently have are certainly a force. Even during the current pandemic, this team worked tirelessly together to produce two quizzes concentrating on the pathophysiology of COVID-19 and management of such a patient needing neurosurgical intervention. My quiz team members have become my dear friends and there is never a moment of boredom with this ‘fantastic five’. 

Angele Théard - The Rational One
I have been a member of the quiz team since 2017 and this experience has provided me an exciting opportunity to learn, review, and help teach.  When I joined this great faculty team, I did not realize the tremendous work involved in the process of quiz writing: thinking of interesting and relevant neuroanesthesia topics; writing questions and answers; and peer reviewing the work of colleagues who would quickly become some of my dearest friends. It is truly an honor to work with this wonderful group of neuroanesthesiologists! Attending our SNACC meetings provides our collaborative group a wonderful opportunity to catch up, share our professional and personal experiences in academe and think about how we can make our work even more successful as fun tools for teaching residents.  As a faculty member, I have used the SNACC quizzes to engage with residents, a critical aspect of teaching in the clinical arena. This educational opportunity helps to reinforce the neuroanesthesia curriculum for residents and affords me a means of discussing important aspects of neuroanesthesia with trainees. 

Suneeta Gollapudy - The Impulsive One
I have been part of the SNACC quiz team since 2016, when the dual team needed a third wheel. Initially, I joined out of curiosity and thought it would be fun, but soon I realized that the fun comes with a lot of thinking, planning and assimilation. Quizzing gives me the opportunity to pick an interesting topic and research the latest studies and articles and generate a question. It is very interesting to build a clinical scenario on paper and let the reader analyze in their minds all the possible things that can or cannot happen. I feel this builds more confidence in the trainees and prepares them for daily operating room cases and the boards. This also gives educators like us an important tool to impart knowledge of neuroanesthesia in a fun way.

I work with an awesome group of anesthesiologists who are equally enthusiastic and passionate about the quizzes. Working with my peers has given me some great friends who share the same values and passions as I do. I am always eager to find out what the next interesting and educational topic would be. We are an incredibly supportive group and I love working with them. Meeting them during our Annual Meeting recharges me. I am thankful to SNACC for having supported us immensely over the years which keeps our motivation up and keeps us generating awesome quizzes month after month.

Hui Yang - The Untapped Energy
I enjoy quizzing because it is such a unique approach to advocate learners’ brainstorming and dynamic learning. When faced with a given interesting but challenging case scenario, the learners may have more fun and feel motivated in thinking deeply, and digesting/memorizing the provided information proactively. Quizzing has been challenging to keep myself thinking, reading and searching the latest studies and data, which even makes this process educational for the educator as well.

I joined the SNACC Quiz team in 2019, and thus am relatively new to this group. I am so grateful to be surrounded by a group of hardworking and dedicated experts in neuroanesthesia. I am always amazed by the great ideas everyone comes up with, tireless efforts to make the quiz as educational as possible, and strong professional support from this group. I feel our group members all have a great sense of humor and we sometimes share a bit of our life outside of work that I really enjoy.

Verghese Cherian - The Old Codger!
Although I love clinical anesthesia, my passion is teaching, and I like to teach the history and the basics of anesthesia. I feel that if the foundations are strong it forms the scaffolding on to which one can attach new information and knowledge. I have been teaching anesthesia residents for over 25 years and I started with the black board and didactic lectures. That is how I was taught!

I have realized that the Millennials and Generation Z have a different way of learning. They grew up with the internet and they like to learn at their own pace and time. It is important to remember that in medicine there are always differing opinions and what we teach today is bound to be outdated within a decade. Therefore, online courses, interactive quizzes, blogs, and discussions seem to be the way to steer this generation.

The reason I love to be a part of the SNACC Neuroanesthesia Quiz Team is two-fold: the first is that I get to stay up-to-date from the reading I have to do to write and review the questions every month and the second is that I enjoy the camaraderie of this superb team.

Finally, in keeping with the mission statement of SNACC, the quiz team attempts to open the minds and eyes of the next generation of neuroanesthesiologists to the ‘art and science’ of neuroanesthesia.  

Special thanks to Drs. Deepak Sharma and John Bebawy, the previous chairs of the Education Committee, and Dr. Laura Hemmer, the current chair, for their encouragement and support.