Education
Dr Niamh Hayes
CAI Chair, Education Committee
On the 5th of January 2020, the World Health Organisation published its first Disease Outbreak News on clusters of pneumonia of unknown aetiology arising in Wuhan City, Hubei Province in China. China publicly shared the genetic sequence of the causative novel coronavirus SARS-CoV-2 on the 12th January. This highly contagious virus spread rapidly worldwide and on the 11th March the WHO characterised the outbreak as a pandemic. The following day, the Irish Government announced the closure of schools and colleges across the State. Since then, more than 25,000 confirmed cases of Covid-19 have been reported in the Republic of Ireland, more than 1,600 have died, and most of our lives have drastically changed. Trainees, fellows and other affiliates of our College have provided care to the sickest of these patients in extraordinarily difficult circumstances and continue to do so. However, the ability to deliver on core College objectives of training and education has been severely adversely impacted in the interests of safety and public health advice. Regrettably, the CAI Annual Congress 2020 was cancelled, along with a number of mandatory and other training and education events.
We are adapting the CAI education and training programme to accommodate necessary changes. A new digital platform to support webcast/webinar events for large numbers of participants, and either onsite or remote video-based interactive learning experiences for smaller groups is in development. This involves the establishment of secure, live-studio streaming capability onsite in the College, along with remote presenting tools and on-demand video resources where appropriate. Each of our courses is undergoing a number of assessments — for the educational content itself to be aligned with new work practices in a post-Covid world, and to see which specific course elements can be delivered virtually. Suitable virtual learning resources are being established by course leads. The new education platform will integrate with the ongoing CAI digital transformation strategy.
A risk assessment of the CAI premises is underway to address safe physical distancing with respect to onsite attendee limits for course elements that need to retain a face-to-face component. We may need to consider imaginative approaches to learning skills e.g. interactive video recording of the participant that is virtually supported by faculty "in real time" or post-event (this could also be achieved remotely if there are successive waves of Covid restrictions that episodically interrupt courses over the coming months and years). This is unpredictable, but planning for multiple scenarios is necessary while accepting that where online education delivery is reasonably possible, this should be done.
For now, your College remains virtually open for business. As usual, e-Journals provide up to date, peer-reviewed and freely accessible information in anaesthesiology, intensive care and pain medicine through the CAI website. Clinical and non-clinical Covid resources are online to facilitate care both of our patients and ourselves. The new e-Portfolio for PCS goes live on the 15th June with a new area of development, Personal Development Plans (PDPs), to help planning, development and delivery of personal learning needs and goals based on professional scope of practice. The digital transformation of CAI will allow online conduct of scheduled written exams in anaesthesiology, intensive care and pain medicine in the second half of 2020 and beyond. The education calendar likewise is undergoing substantial investment, infrastructural change and redevelopment to resume course from late summer.
