Educational resources

The RCPCH have designed a suite of educational resources which include links to e-learning for health (eLfH) for level 1 and 2 as well as RCPCH Compass and ALSG modules for level 3 - all may require separate registration.

Whilst all anaesthetists must maintain Child Safeguarding/Protection training at level 2 or 3 much of this may not seem applicable to the everyday working in operating theatres, intensive care or pain clinic. The RCoA have therefore commissioned several bespoke pieces of work to assist anaesthetists and we hope these will help provide relevant personal and group CPD.

• Protecting Children in Theatre - this is a short film that explores the outcomes of a scenario in which a senior anaesthetist needs to discuss the possibility of physical abuse that has been spotted during a brief general anaesthetic with a parent and child. Whilst this is an uncommon occurrence it highlights the responsibly of all doctors to ask questions when worrying physical signs do not match the history and/or are without an obvious explanation. This is based on RCoA joint guidance Child Protection and the Anaesthetist – Safeguarding children in the operating theatre (2014). 
• When a child dies by Dr Sarah Steel
• Evidence from the Child Death Overview process - this is available locally and is provided by the LSCBs in England and a nation review is also published annually alongside various serious case reviews. There is a triennial review of serious incidents.  
• Abusive Head Trauma in Childhood by Dr Barbie Alden
  • PowerPoint Presentation on Abusive Head Trauma

You may also find it useful to refer to the resources on our Key References and Links page.

Virtual cases (Powerpoint)

• Female Genital Mutilation (FGM)
• A Call to the Resus Room
• A Straightforward Case of MUA in a 9-year-old girl

Other useful sources of information

• Fixers - is a UK based Charity for 16-25 year olds which aims to get young people "using their past to fix their future". Their website contains a variety of resources including short films on a range of subjects from mental health to safeguarding issues. These might be of use to recommend to young people/young adults when caring for them in, for example, the context of a chronic pain consultation.
• Patterns of bruising in preschool children – a longitudinal study: Kemp AM, et al. Arch Dis Child 2015;0:1–6. doi:10.1136/archdischild-2014-307120
• Body maps which demonstrate the distribution of common bruises in childhood