The Minneapolis VA Health Care System Partnership

In 2017, the Department of Anesthesiology took critical steps to deepen its partnership with the Minneapolis VA by supporting the position of Vice Chair of Academic Anesthesiology at the Minneapolis Veterans Affairs Hospital.

Here, there are ample opportunities for residents and physicians to fine-tune clinical skills and work with veterans to care for and treat a variety of medical conditions. The Minneapolis VA Hospital is the tertiary referral center for patients in the Veterans Integrated Service Network (VISN) 23, which includes 390,000 square miles across the states of Minnesota, North and South Dakota, Nebraska, and portions of Illinois, Wisconsin, Kansas, Missouri, and Wyoming.

“This is one of the top VA’s in the country, consistently ranked as a 5-star VA. It is a true patient-centered organization that provides the highest quality of care for veterans. The system culture embraces integrity, commitment, advocacy, respect, and excellence (the VA's core I CARE values). While providing exceptional educational experiences for trainees and career development opportunities for young physicians, the partnership with the University of Minnesota makes the VA a unique healthcare environment to practice medicine in."

This partnership offers our Medical School anesthesiology residents and faculty physicians the unique opportunity to have a duel appointment at the Minneapolis VA Hospital that grant them access to University and Department resources, such as grant-writing and research support.

Selected University of Minnesota Medical School faculty can also practice at the VA, under specified working parameters defined by both institutions. One such faculty is Mojca Remskar, MD, PHD, MACM, who is a professor, Vice Chair and Director of Simulation in the Department of Anesthesiology and the Simulation Director at the Office of Academic Clinical Affairs' M Simulation. Dr. Remskar also serves as the Director of Simulation over at the Minneapolis VA Hospital.

"The VA healthcare system is an organization where patient outcomes and patient safety are at the center of all efforts. This is an excellent environment for our residents to learn from," said Dr. Remskar.