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Renowned SAFE training course goes digital

Participants at Virtual SAFE Obs

A new virtual Safer Anaesthesia From Education (SAFE) Paediatric Anaesthesia training course has been successfully piloted with 32 anaesthesiologists from India and Pakistan.

The SAFE Paediatric course provides refresher training in the essentials of paediatric anaesthesia, encompassing the principles of safe care for children, in particular, assessment, vigilance and competence in essential skills.

The pilot course held on 30-31 January 2021, was led by Dr Gita Nath (Rainbow Children’s Hospital, Hyderabad) and Dr Ravi Naga Prasad (Niloufer Hospital, Hyderabad). It brought together an international teaching faculty with leading anaesthesiologists from India and the UK. The course was a collaboration between WFSA, the Indian Society of Anaesthesiologists (ISA) and the Indian Associate of Paediatric Anaesthesiologists (IAPA), with the generous support of Masimo.

The inaugural digital course marks the continued expansion of WFSA’s efforts to strengthen the global anaesthesia workforce by improving access to high quality digital learning programmes.

Video demonstrations of anaesthesia techniques is a core component of the virtual SAFE course.
Video demonstrations of anaesthesia techniques is a core component of the virtual SAFE course.

WFSA’s new digital strategy utilises online interactive webinars as well as a blended learning approach. This allows participants to study at their own pace whilst also taking advantage of the expert guidance of internationally-renowned faculty through live demonstrations and interactive discussions.

The digitalisation of WFSA’s training resources is being implemented by Jay Valand, WFSA’s Digital Learning Lead, he explained the approach, ‘Up until now, SAFE courses been delivered face to face in-country due to the complex and hands-on nature of the content. We’ve tried to emulate this interactive and engaging element of the course through the use of breakout discussion rooms, bespoke video demonstrations as well as the use of short online quizzes to test learning and increase participant engagement.’

The feedback from the pilot course has been overwhelmingly positive with over 80% of participants stating that the course is extremely likely to improve their clinical ability and improve the care they provide to their patients.

“It was wonderful interacting with anaesthetists from all over the world. The lectures and discussions were thought provoking. The take home message was crystal clear after each session. It was a pleasure to be a part of this programme. Kudos to the organisers!”   

SAFE Obs Course participant,  January 2021.

With the success of the pilot course, Jay and the SAFE Working Group, will be expanding WFSA’s online offerings, ‘We are working on an online blended learning environment for SAFE paediatrics, SAFE obstetrics and SAFE Operating Room that uses the popular open-source learning platform Moodle. A SAFE Obstetric Moodle Pilot is planned for Ugandan participants at the end of February.’

Jay continued, ‘Whilst we expand these platforms why not have a look at our Virtual Library, WFSA curated COVID-19 resources pages and subscribe to the Anaesthesia Tutorial of the Week. ‘

For more information, comments or feedback on digital learning at the WFSA please email Jay Valand, WFSA’s Digital Learning Lead.


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