Core and higher anaesthetics

Anaesthesia is one of largest hospital specialities and as a hand-on practical specialty, it is a very popular career choice. Anaesthetists are involved in diverse areas including chronic pain, obstetrics, critical care medicine, paediatric cardiology, invasive radiology and of course, the core discipline of operative surgery. Routine practical skills acquired include tracheal intubation and insertion of arterial lines, central lines, plus local anaesthetic techniques including epidurals, spinals and other nerve blocks are a routine part of anaesthetic practice. The day-to-day job can be summed up as physiology and pharmacology in action; anaesthetists require an in-depth understanding of applied physiology and pharmacology, in order to meet the challenge of caring for the most unwell patients in the hospital.

TRAINING IN WALES

Core training in Anaesthesia and ACCS-Anaesthesia is delivered in departments across the breadth of Wales, and organised into four training hubs for the programme duration; north, south east, south central and south west Wales. Core training focuses on the knowledge and skills required to perform anaesthesia in fit, healthy patients independently. Within the three year Anaesthesia or four year ACCS-Anaesthesia programme, six months will be spent in intensive care. The Primary Fellowship of the Royal College of Anaesthesia (FRCA) exam is completed during Stage one training and prior to application for ST4 training. Core trainees are supported through the All Wales Anaesthesia Basic Science teaching programme to maximise exam success.

During higher training there is an emphasis on broad-based sub-specialty training, with plenty of opportunity to pursue special interest areas (SIAs) in ST6 and ST7, for those with particular career interests such as pain, paediatrics, obstetrics or cardiac anaesthesia. The four-year ST4-7 training programme is delivered across tertiary and district general hospital sites, and equips the higher specialist trainee to perform confidently and independently by their Certificate of Completion of Training (CCT). The programme for the ST4-6 years is determined at the time of appointment, with some flexibility to select the final SIA year following appointment. The full complement of SIAs are listed on the Royal College of Anaesthetics (RCoA) website. A wide variety of anaesthetic training opportunities are provided within all hospitals in Wales, as well as neuro-anaesthesia training in The Walton Hospital Liverpool.

The Welsh School of Anaesthesia has a proven track record of providing excellent opportunities for non-clinical training in research, quality improvement (QI) simulation and education, support trainees with publications and national and international presentations. Trainees are encouraged to gain experience overseas or in other specialist centres in the UK as Out of Programme (OOP) experience if they wish. The school are fully supportive of trainees who wish to train on a Less than Full-Time basis, with over one-third of specialist trainees choosing to work more flexibly.

Across core and specialist training, the School delivers a wealth of teaching resources in virtual and face-face format to complement the RCoA curriculum in clinical and non-clinical areas of training to support professional and portfolio development.

Want to find out more?

If you are a medical student or a foundation trainee who wants to find out more, try to organise some undergraduate or postgraduate taster days through the Welsh Anaesthesia Shadowing Programme (WASP) to get a true feel for the specialty. These days give you exposure to anaesthesia and allow hands on experience in ‘The day in the life of an Anaesthetist”. The aim is to show students the many varied roles of anaesthetists in the hospital, which is difficult unless a student has completed a Student Selected Component (SSC) as part of their medical degree. We have a centralised way of booking taster days through our WASP coordinator on walesanaesthesiashadowing@gmail.com, who will co-ordinate a 3-5 day programmes of 'Anaesthetic taster days'. The anaesthetic tasters are also an effective way of gaining points at interviews for anaesthetic jobs and 'one to one' consultant teaching and advice on the application process. WASP attendees will rotate between emergency theatre and on-call duties, elective short-stay surgery, intensive care, specialist anaesthesia in paediatrics, obstetrics, neurosurgery and cardiac surgery. The feedback has been 100% positive.
Also look out for our careers evenings usually held in October/November, which will be advertised through the Welsh School of Anaesthesia website.

HEAR FROM OUR CURRENT TRAINEES:

“Anaesthesia merges all the reasons I wanted to become a doctor: advanced understanding of basic science; communicating with patients and their loved ones; performing intricate clinical skills; relieving pain; teaching others, and continually expanding my own knowledge and understanding.” Dr Rick Ellis

“Anaesthetics is a very varied speciality. You never know what each day is going to hold - relieving pain on labour ward, resuscitating a sick patient in ITU or participating in an elective theatre list or chronic pain clinic. There is something for everyone. You could for instance be providing pain relief for a mother in childbirth on the labour ward and then later be anaesthetising a fit healthy football player with damaged knee ligaments.” Dr Lucy Emmett