Safer Anaesthesia From Education (SAFE)
Safer Anaesthesia From Education (SAFE) was jointly developed by the Association of Anaesthetists and the WFSA. SAFE has been developed as a short CPD/CME course aimed at equipping anaesthesia providers with the essential skills and knowledge to deliver safe care to their patients, even in low-resource settings.
The course is tailored to suit the needs and context of trainees and can be delivered to both physician and non-physician anaesthesia providers. The aim is to create a sustainable training model which can be embedded in the national health system.
SAFE courses have been run around the world, and course materials are available in English, French, Spanish, Portuguese and Khmer.
SAFE Obstetrics
SAFE Obstetrics is a three-day training course which addresses the roles of the anaesthesia provider in managing obstetric cases and emergencies.
It uses clinical scenarios based on the conditions causing 80% of maternal deaths: haemorrhage, sepsis and eclampsia.
It also covers anaesthesia management, complications of anaesthesia and newborn resuscitation.
SAFE Paediatrics
The SAFE Paediatrics course is a three-day course which aims to provide refresher training in the essentials of paediatric anaesthesia and emphasises the principles of safe care for children, in particular, assessment, vigilance and competence in essential skills.
The course includes sessions on anaesthesia for common elective and emergency conditions in children, pain management, fluid resuscitation, newborn and paediatric life support and paediatric trauma management.
A two-day version of the SAFE Paediatrics course has been developed for UK anaesthetists in 2019.
SAFE Paediatrics – Cleft
Launched in 2022, SAFE Paediatrics – Cleft is a two-day course focused on the principles of providing safe anaesthesia to children undergoing cleft lip and palate repair surgery.
The course covers the principles of paediatric anaesthesia, cleft surgery and OR safety, as well as sessions on intercurrent illness, associated conditions and syndromes, airway management and anaesthesia for cleft surgery.
SAFE Operating Room
Developed in recognition of the need for training to support safe surgery, the SAFE OR course is a multidisciplinary two to three-day course launched in 2017 for teams of surgeons, obstetricians, nurses and anaesthesia providers who work together but rarely train together.
The course content is based on the WHO Standards for Safe Surgery and includes sessions on leadership, teamwork, communication, decision making and conflict resolution, as well as surgical site infection prevention, the WHO Surgical Safety Checklist, procurement and quality improvement.
The SAFE OR course was developed by the Association of Anaesthetists and WFSA in partnership with the Royal College of Surgeons of England, the Association for Perioperative Practice, the Royal College of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists, and the Lifebox Foundation.
SAFE Training of Trainers (ToT)
SAFE Training of Trainers is a one-day course which covers SAFE teaching methodology, to equip new trainers with the skills to teach on SAFE courses.
SAFE Online
SAFE Online is our newest development, providing alternative models of SAFE course delivery, including interactive e-learning through our SAFE Online learning management system and interactive online discussions, with fully online and hybrid options of delivery