All staff should have access to adequate time, funding and facilities to undertake and update training that is relevant to their clinical practice, including annual mandatory training such as basic life support.
Fellowship posts should be identified to allow additional training for those who wish to follow a career in thoracic anaesthesia to help ensure there are adequate numbers of skilled anaesthetists in the specialty. These should be suitable for trainees who wish to take time out of training programmes, or for those who are post certificate of completion of training. Such...
Departments should consider providing all newly appointed consultants or autonomously practising anaesthetists, particularly those with limited experience, with a mentor to facilitate their development in thoracic anaesthesia.
Anaesthetic involvement in the leadership of thoracic units should be considered.
There should be a forum for discussion of matters relevant to both surgeons and anaesthetists, for example protocol development and critical incidents.
Clinical protocols should be developed from national guidelines and reviewed on a regular basis.
Hospitals should have systems in place to facilitate multidisciplinary meetings for thoracic services.
All handovers should contain representatives for the multidisciplinary teams from both theatre and the receiving area and should be documented and structured to ensure continuity of care.41
The theatre team should all engage in the use of the World Health Organization surgical safety process42 commencing with a team brief, and concluding the list with a team debrief. The debrief should highlight things done well and also identify areas requiring improvement. Teams should consider including the declaration of emergency call procedures specific to the location as...
