University Hospitals Plymouth Paediatric Anaesthesia
6-month Specialist Interest Area Module
This post is designed for HEE SW School of Anaesthesia doctors in training (DIT) wishing to undertake a six-month Specialist Interest Area (SIA) module in Paediatric Anaesthesia.
The module aims to prepare a DIT for a non-tertiary centre anaesthetic consultant post with some paediatric lists. It would be ideally suited to be part of a 12-month SIA complementing the Bristol SIA (see website). A 12-month SIA could prepare a DIT for a post in a non-tertiary centre as a paediatric-interest anaesthetist or serve as a solid foundation for an application to a tertiary paediatric fellowship for a career in tertiary paediatric anaesthesia. The module is based at University Hospital Plymouth, potentially supplemented with an attachment to Bristol Royal Hospital for Children, to gain exposure to a breadth of cases including emergency work, cardiac and neonatal anaesthesia, tailored to individual needs.
The trainee will work in Children’s Theatres alongside consultant anaesthetists with regular commitments to paediatric anaesthesia. There are three dedicated theatres with daily emergency capacity. There are a breadth of subspecialties including general, emergencies, ENT (occasional cleft), maxillofacial, oncology, ophthalmology, orthopaedics, plastics, radiology, sedation and urology. There is also opportunity to attend pre-assessment clinics, acute pain rounds, CHDU, CED, play therapy and NICU. The DIT will be expected to participate in out-of-hours work that reflects consultant practice, including emergency anaesthetic care of the critically unwell child. This would ideally be after a placement at BRHFC.
DITs would be expected to utilise EDT to attend and present work at, national/ international conferences relevant to paediatric anaesthesia and critical care, as well as participate in relevant research, QI activity or service development, such as developing policies and guidelines. They will be expected to attend regular Bristol WATCh COW virtual teaching, be involved in supervising and teaching AHPS and other DITs. There are opportunities to be involved in simulation, including regular departmental interprofessional simulation training, MEPA and MEPA-FC courses as well as the novel MOCCA course for stage 3 DITs. DITs would be supported to gain exposure and relevant qualifications such as in ultrasound or ECHO.
By the end of the module, trainees would be able to work independently on lists and supervised on call, providing safe perioperative anaesthetic care for a wide variety of procedures provided by a non-tertiary centre. DITs would be expected to gain competence with relevant practical procedures such as regional anaesthesia (plan A/B blocks) and vascular access, achieving stage 3 and SIA key capabilities as outlined on the RCoA website within six-month placement.
For further information, please contact Dr Michelle Chopra, Stage 3 /SIA Paeds Anaes Module lead at Plymouth. Expressions of interest to TPD, currently Dr Matt Ward. Allocation is managed centrally at Deanery level and accommodated whenever feasible. In the event of more applicants than places, with no suitable temporal adjustment, then a competitive application process may be required (similar process to the Bristol SIA module).