Examiners past and present

Being an examiner is so much more than turning up on the day, with essay and then SAQ and SOEs, paper settings, producing model essay answers, adding to the MCQ bank, creating OSCEs for the Membership and more recently developing SBAs. All of this and teaching on pre-examination courses are excellent aids to maintaining on-going professional competence and keeping up to date. One of the most significant changes in my time as an examiner was the removal of the hospital clinical examinations component of the Final Examination in Anaesthesia. With hindsight it’s a wonder they lasted as long as they did with the challenges of infection control and the chaos of the acute hospital service. It could be a challenge for the organising Senior Registrar as no matter how well you thought you had nailed it something always surfaced between signing off the final list of patients late in the evening and coming in for the final early morning check. The happiest dropout I ever had was when a young patient waiting for a heart transplant who disappeared overnight to the Mater for successful surgery. It was also impossible to standardize the patients. They were what they were. The final nail in the coffin of live clinics for the large numbers taking the Final exam was Norovirus! Although this component was dropped earlier by the RCOA, many of their exchange examiners strongly supported retaining it but I think that this area of a trainee’s development is more fairly and accurately assessed in the work place and events of the last year would certainly have put paid to them. Patients who participated were generous with their time and almost all were keen to know whether the candidate had done well. Of course the clinical component remains integral to the FICMI, but the numbers are much more manageable. Overall I believe that all components of our exams have become much more rigorously standardized and the process is very robust.

The other major change has been the decrease in the number of examiners from Northern Ireland, which I think is a great pity when you look at their contribution to the history of the Faculty and then the College, although Gareth Morrison is a great representative of Northern Ireland anaesthesia. On the plus side the workforce in Anaesthesiology, Critical Care and Pain Medicine in the Republic has been slowly expanding and young consultants are stepping up to the plate despite still being understaffed relative to the demands of the workplace. Apart from the examiners it’s important to acknowledge those who are left behind carrying the clinical workload to facilitate their department’s contribution to examining. Being an examiner is of course not all work and no play. It was always great to meet colleagues from other hospitals and externs from other countries. There was always the collegial social side to be enjoyed until Covid brought a halt to interactions with other humans. Those of us who were exchange examiners with RCOA will concur that one needed to be robust to survive the week in London, which was a combination of a hard day’s work followed by a busy and convivial social programme every evening. Examining is by its nature collegiate and this is an important facet. I’ve rarely met a difficult examiner and the examiners I worked with invariably tried to allow the candidate perform their best on the day. It was always rewarding at the end of the day’s examining to meet the successful candidates and remember the relief and happiness we all felt when we got through the Final and spare a thought for those who did not make it on that day. I would like to thank all of those who work in the Examinations Department for their efficiency in organising the exams, their gentle reminders/nagging when deadlines approach, my fellow examiners, especially those I’ve partnered with over the years in the Intensive Care component of the FCAI and in the FICMI and EDIC and my colleagues in St James’s who facilitated those of us who examine. It’s especially gratifying to see former trainees and exam candidates coming to the other side of the examiners’ table and contributing in so many ways to the College. The College is definitely in good hands. Critical Care and Anaesthesiology have certainly undergone the ultimate test and have truly shown their mettle in the past 15 months, even if it did take a pandemic for the health service to appreciate exactly what it is we do.

My best wishes to you all in the future. Jeanne Moriarty