Message from the President to all Fellows and Trainees

Dr Brian Kinirons

CAI President

Dear Colleagues,

It is a pleasure to provide you with up to date information on College activities. We have earned a reputation for training doctors to the highest standards, for being an innovative College committed to building on our success and maintaining a standard of excellence in all our activities. As we move to a new phase of this pandemic, our staff and faculty are working tirelessly to ensure we continue to improve all our activities and maintain the highest possible standards.

Transparency is all about being open to and embracing new ideas, new technology and new approaches. No individual or organisation can afford to stop learning. Developing our digital capability has enabled us to deliver some of our strategic objectives. We are fundamentally changing the way we collaborate and use data. We will continue to support our Trainees, Members and Fellows to improve patient safety and quality of care. We are committed to achieving excellence in improving access to safe anaesthesia for all.

In this newsletter Dr Niamh Hayes outlines how we are embracing technology to deliver our portfolio of continuing professional development education . Dr Donall Ó Cronin gives an overview of our approach as a College to making the practice of our specialty as sustainable as possible and how we plan to advocate and support societal changes towards greater sustainability.

Upcoming College Council elections

As you will be aware the new closing date for voting in the Council election is Friday 31st July 2020. I am calling on calling on all Fellows who are eligible to vote and have not yet done so, to please cast your vote at your earliest possible convenience.

All Fellows in good standing are eligible to vote in the Council election. If you have not received an email with instructions for casting your vote, please do not hesitate to contact us by email at executive@coa.ie.

View from the frontline during COVID-19 survey

12% of all hospital consultants are Anaesthesiologists, making Anaesthesiology the single largest hospital specialty in Ireland. It is important that we represent the voice of College Fellows and Trainees on the issues that matter most to you during COVID-19 and to feedback your views to the public, the HSE, the Dept of Health and the Senior Medical Leaders Forum. To that end we are launching a frontline survey next week to capture data on the issues that matter most to you. The results will be collated and used to support public servants in HSE and the DOH, TDs and key decision makers to understand and mitigate the pressures faced by Anaesthesiologists, Intensive Care and Pain Medicine Specialists during COVID-19 as they care for their patients. Thank you for your support in completing the survey. A link will be emailed to you next week.

CAI Anaesthesiology Research Fellowship award