Launch of new Curriculum for the National Specialist Anaesthesiology Training programme

The new e-document, which has come into effect since July 2020, replaces and supersedes previously published documents relating to the Curriculum and Training Regulations. The new Curriculum was officially launched at an online event on Friday 9th of October.

The new Curriculum is a product of a collaboration between multiple stakeholders however; two part time Post CSCST Fellows, Dr Lindi Snyman and Dr Orsolya Solymos completed a significant amount of work on the document. In addition to this, we received an important insight from Dr Enda O’Connor, Consultant Intensivist and Medical Educationalist in St James’s Hospital on the educational content of the document, which has also been incorporated into the document. The document is designed with the principles of competency based medical education, training healthcare Anaesthesiologists to develop competent and proficient clinical practice through the application of scientific knowledge, skills and attitudes, organised into a guiding framework. The document reflects best practice in a continually evolving profession and its main aim is to define the learning outcomes, teaching and assessments for a Specialist Anaesthesiologist trainee. More specifically, it will: • Provide clear requirements for each core and specialised unit of training; • Highlight the knowledge, skills and attitudes required to practice as a specialist anaesthesiologist; • Guide Tutors and Fellows involved in training; • Encourage trainees to seek self-directed learning opportunities to complete core and specialist units; • Outline how each learning outcome is assessed throughout the training programme; • Encourage regular formative interaction between the trainee and Consultants through formative workplace based assessments; • Provide consistency and standardisation across different training sites; • Enable comparison with international training programmes to ensure equivalency of training, experience, and assessment. An e-Portfolio for Training (‘e-Portfolio’) has also been in place for all SAT Trainees since July 2020. From this date, use of the e-Portfolio is mandatory for all trainees on the SAT programme. The purposes served by the e-Portfolio will be to: • Record the trainee’s profile and rotations; • Provide for the electronic capture of volume of practice and generation of volume of practice reports; • Record trainee and tutor interactions, including workplace based assessments; • Record professional activities including training diary; • Record clinical reflection; • Provide access to learning resources; • Provide access to Membership and Fellowship examination regulations and resources. Certain sections of the e-Portfolio for Training will be accessible by the trainee only, whilst other sections will be accessible by the tutor, trainee and the College. This document is an extremely important part of the SAT programme. It is imperative that trainees read it and are familiar with its contents. Here is a link to the new Curriculum: https://www.anaesthesia.ie/curriculum/?page=1 . Any queries or questions relating to the document can be emailed to the Training Department at training@coa.ie.