Training UK novice anaesthetists on a high fidelity simulator

F.C. Forrest, M. Oram

This year the Royal College of Anaesthetists produced guidelines of the expected competencies for trainees anaesthetists in their first 2 years of training. Within this were guidelines for a comprehensive assessment of technical and attitudinal performance at 3 months. Based on our observations from two previous novice pilot projects at Bristol; Medical Simulation Centre (BMSC) and with the RCA competencies in mind, we designed a 5 day course for novice anaesthetists in their first 3 months of training.

The course was practical and simulator based.

Week 1: 2 days. A learning framework for general anaesthesia was given. A strong emphasis was put on equipment checking and understanding.

Week 6:1 day. Previous learning principles discussed. Rapid sequence induction taught.

Weeks 12: 2 days. Extensive critical incident training and a technical assessments

With consent, we observed and scored the technical performance of each novice in week 12 (group A). We used the scoring system used in the previous pilot projects. Scores for the preparation and conduct of RSI were compared with the scores of the original pilot group (a group observed but not taught at BMSC) at 12 weeks (group B).

A Mann-Whitney U test showed a significant difference between the scores in the two groups (p=0.0106). The better scores in Group A reflect the benefits of focussed practical training in the simulator.

Table 1: Technical scores