Cureus | Embedding Royal College of Anaesthetist’s Case Based Discussions into the MEPAT Course

Embedding Royal College of Anaesthetist’s Case Based Discussions into the MEPAT Course


Abstract

Context

Managing Emergencies in Paediatric Anaesthesia for Trainees (MEPAT) is an internationally recognised, peer reviewed and literature based simulation course which aims to give anaesthesia trainees the opportunity to develop skills in the management of paediatric anaesthetic emergencies (1). Anaesthetic training in the UK is competency based with a minimum of 60 individual assessments and 20 ‘Units of Training’ required to be signed off for completion of Intermediate training alone (2).

Description

Previous work has mapped the MEPAT course to the Royal College of Anaesthetists UK (RCoA) coded competencies to create a curriculum map (3). Following positive feedback from trainees using this curriculum map we had requests to embed Work Place Based Assessments into the MEPAT course - we piloted the use of standardised Case Based Discussion (CBD) templates.

We reviewed learning objectives (LO’s) within the MEPAT scenarios alongside our local MEPAT database of ‘Take Home Messages’ (THM’s) - reported learning outcomes from course participants following each structured debrief. THM’s matched the LO’s set out for each scenario and were consistent across all courses. Following this analysis we felt confident that our MEPAT debriefs or ‘simulated case based discussions’ were standardised – allowing us to create a CBD Template for each scenario using the THM’s as core themes for discussion. The template could then be easily transferred to the RCoA electronic portfolio.

Observation/Evaluation

Feedback from trainees and specialist paediatric anaesthetists has been extremely positive. It has allowed trainees to sign off several different competencies within one MEPAT scenario and has provided the assessor with a template to work from therefore minimising the substantial workload required to complete each CBD.

Discussion

We hope that our work in both curriculum mapping and CBD templates can be used by the RCoA as a model for embedding simulation into the anaesthetic training curriculum.

References:

1) www.mepa.org.uk

2) 2010 Curriculum for a CCT in Anaesthetics Edition 2 Version 1.6. A publication by the Royal College of Anaesthetists UK August 2010 Annex C.

3) Mapping ‘MEPAT’ Paediatric Anaesthesia Simulation Course to the RCoA (UK) Curriculum. Winton P, Armstrong L. Poster Presentation - Association of Paediatric Anaesthetists of Great Britain and Ireland Annual Scientific Meeting Aberdeen May 2015

Poster
non-peer-reviewed

Embedding Royal College of Anaesthetist’s Case Based Discussions into the MEPAT Course


Author Information

Scott McNeill Corresponding Author

Critical Care, Royal Infirmary Edinburgh

Tobias Everett

Anesthesia, The Hospital for Sick Children, University of Toronto, Toronto, CAN

Pamela Winton

Anaesthesiology, Royal Hospital for Sick Children, Edinburgh


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