GAARRC (Gulf Atlantic Anesthesia Residents’ Research Conference) is an annual, professional meeting devoted to presentations by resident physicians from anesthesiology programs based in the Southeastern region of the United States. This meeting is designed to be low-key and without stress, in order to create the ideal environment in which resident physicians may speak publicly about their research interests and activities to other residents.

Typically, GAARRC occurs over one weekend (Friday-Sunday) in April or May of each year with the meeting location rotating around the Southeastern U.S., and is sponsored by one of the region’s university, anesthesiology programs. Some of the past meeting locations include Puerto Rico, New Orleans and Jacksonville.
Presentations are co-developed with faculty supervision. From among 100-115 resident talks, the excellence of the top three presentations in each category (Original research, Case reports and Literature review), will be awarded.

As for financial support, each institution has policies in place that may assist presenting residents in defraying expenses related to the preparation of the presentation and attendance to the annual conference. As such, each anesthesiology program will make the final decision over authorizing assistance. Programs might consider this meeting to be a special case. You are being encouraged to approach your faculty mentor with your request for financial assistance. Please present him/her with an itemized budget for expenses that includes registration fee, air and ground transportation, lodging, meals (exclusive of those provided via the conference) and graphical and/or editorial support.

After participating in this educational activity, the learners should be more confident in: (1) Presenting scientific information in an accurate, concise, clear and relevant manner to the judges and audience; (2) Discussing the care delivered to patients and convey both its strengths and weaknesses; (3) Demonstrating knowledge and mastery of the subject both during the presentation and the questioning period following it; (4) Answering questions and being evaluated and ranked by judges; (5) Gaining information on the latest techniques in the field of anesthesiology; and (6) Networking with anesthesia professionals, resulting an increased personal reservoir of resources and stronger ties among fellow programs.