Fitness for purpose in anaesthesiology: a review

Undergraduate Anesthesia Skills for a Global Surgery Agenda: Students' Self-Reported Competence

BACKGROUND

Safe anesthesia is imperative for the Global Surgery agenda and Sustainable Development Goal 3. Due to a shortage of specialists in South Africa (SA), anesthetic services are often provided by nonspecialist doctors, often newly qualified and frequently without immediate supervision. The burden of disease in the developing world demands fit-for-purpose, day-one medical graduates. Although undergraduate anesthesia training is mandatory for medical students in SA, no outcomes are specified, and these are decided autonomously at each medical school. This study describes the current self-perceived anesthetic competence of medical students in SA as a needs assessment directed at achieving the goals of Global Surgery in SA and other developing countries.

METHODS

In this cross-sectional observational study, 1689 students (89% participation rate), representing all medical schools in SA, rated their self-perceived competence at graduation in 54 anesthetic-related Likert scale items in 5 themes: patient evaluation, patient preparation for anesthesia, practical skills performance, administration of anesthesia, and the management of intraoperative complications. Medical schools were divided into clusters A (≥25 days of anesthetic training) and B (<25 days). Descriptive statistics, Fisher exact test, and a mixed-effects regression model were used in the statistical analysis.

RESULTS

Students felt more prepared for history-taking and patient examination than for managing emergencies and complications. The self-perceived competence of students at cluster A schools was higher across all 54 items and all 5 themes. The same was observed for general medical skills and skills relating to maternal mortality in SA.

CONCLUSIONS

Time-on-task, capacity for repetition, and student maturity might have impacted self-efficacy and should be considered in curriculum development. Students felt less prepared for emergencies. Focused training and assessment aimed at emergency management should be considered. Students did not feel competent in general medical areas, in which anesthetists are experts, including resuscitation, fluid management, and analgesia. Anesthetists should take ownership of this training at the undergraduate level. Cesarean delivery is the most performed surgical procedure in sub-Saharan Africa. The Essential Steps in Managing Obstetric Emergencies (ESMOE) program was designed for internship training but can be introduced at undergraduate level. This study suggests that curriculum reform is required. The achievement of an agreed-upon set of standardized national undergraduate anesthetic competencies may ensure fit-for-purpose practitioners. Undergraduate and internship training should align to form part of a continuum of basic anesthetics training in SA. The findings of this study might benefit curriculum development in other regions with similar contexts.

Defining fitness for purpose in South African anaesthesiologists using a Delphi technique to assess the CanMEDS framework

Background: Training of South African anaesthesiologists is based on the Canadian Medical Education Directives for Specialists (CanMEDS). However, the applicability of CanMEDS in this context has not been assessed. An expert panel participated in a Delphi process to create an appropriate expanded list of CanMEDS competencies that may be used in the future to assess fitness for purpose of local graduates. Methods: This descriptive study comprised a representative panel of 16 experts surveyed electronically over three rounds to assess the importance of the existing CanMEDS roles and enabling competencies and suggested additions deemed applicable locally. The primary outcome was the creation of a list of competencies applicable to South Africa. Results: There was a 100% response rate for all three rounds. Based on the existing seven CanMEDS meta-competencies (Medical Expert, Collaborator, Communicator, Leader, Scholar, Professional and Health Advocate), respondents scored the importance of 89 enabling competencies and 19 additional competencies. Seven CanMEDS enabling competencies did not achieve consensus and were excluded. Nineteen new enabling competencies and two new meta-competencies (Humaneness, Context Awareness) achieved consensus and were added. Median ratings of importance of meta-competencies showed highest scores for Medical Expert and Collaborator and lowest scores for Health Advocate. Weighting of meta-competencies revealed highest scores for Medical Expert and Professional with all others equally weighted. Conclusion: This study has formulated an adapted CanMEDS list of enabling competencies with the addition of the two new metacompetencies of Context Awareness and Humaneness for use in South African anaesthesiology. This provides a means with which future graduates may be assessed for fitness for purpose.