Canadian journal of anaesthesia = Journal canadien d'anesthésie
-
Postoperative delirium often remains undiagnosed and therefore untreated. The purpose of this continuing professional development module is to identify patients at high risk of developing delirium following non-cardiac surgery and to provide tools to aid in the diagnosis of delirium at the bedside. Optimal prevention and treatment strategies are recommended. ⋯ Delirium is a serious condition that must be recognized early and treated promptly to minimize deleterious outcomes. In order to institute prevention strategies and treat the condition effectively when it occurs, the anesthesiologist must be vigilant in identifying patients at risk and in screening for this condition.
-
Excellence in anesthesia education has been advocated to meet the future needs and direction of the specialty. The purpose of this article is twofold: first, to review the current medical education literature and theory in order to inform teaching and learning in anesthesia; and second, to advocate for excellence in anesthesia education. ⋯ The call for excellence in anesthesia has become an important theme, particularly with respect to education. While excellent teaching is a goal to which all anesthesia faculty should aspire, scholarly teaching and scholarship in teaching should also be promoted in order to advance anesthesia education for the benefit of the profession and ultimately for patient care.
-
The purpose of this article is to provide a review of the competencies and associated assessment techniques relevant to the practice of anesthesiology. Although many of the competencies are difficult to define and measure specifically, advances in assessment techniques have provided more opportunities to gather meaningful performance data. ⋯ While there are many psychometric challenges associated with the assessments pertinent to the education of anesthesiologists, technological advances combined with an increased awareness of sound measurement principles will yield more meaningful competency measures that can be used to improve the practice of anesthesiology.
-
Within the field of anesthesia, simulation has been used as a tool for training and assessment for over 30 years. The purpose of this review is to evaluate the state of the science in terms of its effectiveness as an approach to both training and assessment in anesthesia. Articles in the area of simulation and anesthesia published up to and including 2011 were reviewed for inclusion in this narrative review. ⋯ For simulation to realize its potential impact, further research is needed to understand how to optimize this modality of learning more effectively, how to transfer knowledge of research findings to practice, and also how to broaden the simulation modalities used in anesthesia. In future, the optimal use of simulation will depend on a clear understanding of what can and cannot be accomplished with simulation and its various modalities.
-
We aim to provide a broad overview of current key issues in anesthesiology education to encourage both "clinician teachers" and "clinician educators" in academic health centres to consider how medical educational theory can inform their own practice. ⋯ We have identified a number of key themes and challenges for anesthesiology education. This discussion will continue in greater depth in individual articles in this issue so as to promote further interest in a growing body of literature that is relevant to anesthesiology education.