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Planning and implementing one of the new special interest areas (SIAs) available from the 2021 curriculum: a trainee’s and trainer’s perspective.

I have recently been offered a role as a specialist anaesthetist. This is the final stage of my career pathway. To most, becoming a consultant is the final stage. To those not on the trainee pathway, the goal is to become a specialist.

We are in the midst of a climate emergency. With record-breaking heat waves and flooding over the last few years, the danger to our patients’ health is undeniable. Even the World Health Organization described climate change as ‘the single biggest health threat facing humanity’.

Dr Anjum Goth shares a very personal story of her stillbirth experience. 1 in 225 foetuses die before or during delivery in the UK each year. A third of these are term babies – born at 37 weeks or beyond – who were considered healthy before their death.

Following the murder of George Floyd in the United States in 2020, which moved and touched so many individuals and organisations across the world, the ‘Black Lives Matter’ campaign has acted as a catalyst for positive action and renewed debate about how best to address systemic racism in our society and issues that affect the Black, Asian and Minority Ethnic communities.

I have been appointed as the new SAS representative for the Faculty of Pain Medicine Training and Assessment Committee (FPMTAC). After graduating in 1992, I worked in some of the renowned hospitals in India in anaesthesia and intensive care. I moved to the UK in 2003 to improve my anaesthetic skills and knowledge.

Dr John Francis Nunn died after an acute episode of respiratory failure. He had spent the last four years of his life in residential care due to progressive vascular dementia.

Mrs Shivalkar was a 78-year-old patient with debilitating co-morbidities scheduled for elective revision hip surgery at a stand-alone surgical unit without Level 2 or 3 care facilities. The surgical procedure was prolonged, and intraoperatively there was prolonged significant hypotension. In recovery this hypotension continued, but despite this the patient was discharged to the ward, where she sustained cardiac arrest. 

As the 2021 curriculum enters its second year, the new curriculum continues to evolve. At each step, this process has been informed by feedback from anaesthetists in training and trainers to guide changes, aid additional clarification, and influence future improvements.

The concept of ‘complexity’ is synonymous with healthcare systems and is becoming increasingly prevalent in perioperative care. Advancing surgical technologies and approaches are driving the complexity of operations.