Advice for anaesthetists in training
13 March 2020
As evidenced by developments over the last few days, it is likely that the NHS will have to manage increasing numbers of COVID-19 cases in the weeks ahead. The Royal College of Anaesthetists (RCoA), in partnership with representatives from the Association of Anaesthetists, Faculty of Intensive Care Medicine (FICM) and Intensive Care Society (ICS), has considered the impact of this on key issues related to the anaesthetic training programme.
Redeployment
We are aware that there may be a need to redeploy anaesthetists in training to support other areas of the hospital, in particular Critical Care. Deployments should be kept as short as possible to minimise the impact on training. College tutors, Regional Advisors Anaesthesia (RAAs) and Association Links are asked to provide or facilitate appropriate pastoral support to anaesthetists in training who are re-deployed. The hospital’s Guardian of Safe Working should be made aware of redeployments and any change to hours worked.
No anaesthetist should be expected to practise beyond their clinical competence. Anyone who is working in an unfamiliar environment must receive appropriate induction, be familiar with local governance arrangements and have undertaken training in the use of PPE including fit testing or equivalent and procedures for donning and doffing effectively.
Doctors should be given a clear line of medical supervision that is appropriate to their level of competence.
Further guidance from Health Education England can be found here
Trainee progression
The RCoA, in conjunction with the Joint Academy Training Forum, and in accordance with guidance from Education Leads in the Four Nations and the Medical Director of the General Medical Council, recommends a flexible approach to ensure that the progression of trainees is maintained despite the circumstances caused by COVID-19.
We will be requesting that local schools of anaesthesia adopt a flexible approach to the sign off of units of training and progression through core and higher training programmes. We are reviewing the situation regularly and will provide further updates as required.
Examinations
The RCoA has carefully considered the potential impact on our examinations (FRCA, FFPM, FFICM). Regretfully we have had to make the difficult decision to postpone all examinations until the autumn. We will be contacting candidates individually with more details. We will also be advising schools that trainees should be allowed to progress through the training programme without having passed exams as an exceptional measure.
We are also considering how to manage the forthcoming ST3 recruitment round in the light of the potential challenges faced by both candidates and panellists. We will make a decision on this in the next few days so please monitor this website for updates.
We appreciate that all of the above will be extremely worrying for anaesthetists in training at a time when the circumstances in the clinical environment are also very stressful. We hope that it also provides some reassurance around continued training progression.
As has been emphasised elsewhere, we urge everyone to look after their own wellbeing and that of the teams around them during what is likely to be a very difficult period of intensive work. We will also be writing to trainers to reiterate this point.
Finally, we recommend that all anaesthetists should continue to keep themselves and their departments appraised of developments as they arise. We would recommend regularly checking for updates on this shared ICM anaesthesia COVID-19 website.
ENDS