Message from the President to all Fellows and Trainees

Dr Brian Kinirons

CAI President

Dear Colleagues, Over a seven-day period from 12th-19th June 2020, the College conducted a survey to develop a snapshot “view from the frontline during COVID-19” of CAI fellows and trainees. We intend using your feedback to represent the voice of the College on the issues that matter most as expressed in the survey. We will brief the incoming Minister for Health and civil servants, HSE & hospital group management and key decision makers to help them understand and mitigate some of the issues raised by you as you care for your patients.

Key findings

• Over half of respondents (51.8%) have confidence in their hospital’s preparedness to restart some planned activity. • Nine out of ten respondents (91.48%) have access to adequate PPE in their hospital, with 88% of respondents confident or very confident that they can access the PPE they need when required. • One in ten (13.33%) felt that patient care had been delayed or compromised in their hospital due to a lack of PPE. Six out of ten respondents (60.7%) concerned about the impact on their health or the health of their family/household from a lack of PPE. 43% of respondents reported experiencing ill effects attributed to wearing PPE. • More than one in six (17.4%) continue to have a low or no degree of confidence in their ability to access the testing they need for their patients , rising to one in five (20%) when considering access to testing for themselves, and rising again to over one third ( 37%) when considering access to the testing they need for members of their household with COVID-19 symptoms. • More than 97% (97.3%) of respondents are able to access the anaesthetic drugs they normally use, with seven out of ten respondents reporting high levels of confidence in their ability to access the anaesthetic drugs they need over the next two months. • Almost half of all respondents (49.6%) reported feeling mental distress associated with the pandemic due to work, on more than one occasion over the past month while one in two (49%) feel at risk of burnout associated with the pandemic. • Over half of respondents (55%) reported difficulties taking annual leave during the pandemic despite one in seven (14%) working considerably longer working hours. • Eight out of 10 (81.7%) respondents believe that this pandemic will alter the way that anaesthesiology/ intensive care medicine is practiced in the future.