10th Anniversary of the College of Anaesthesiologists Simulation Training (CAST) programme
10th Anniversary of the College of Anaesthesiologists Simulation Training (CAST) programme
On March 26th, 2020, CAST is celebrating 10 years since the delivery of the first simulation training day at the College. The College of Anaesthesiologists of Ireland (CAI) were the first Irish Postgraduate Medical Training Body to incorporate simulation into their training programme. The first course was Anaesthesia Emergencies (AE) and was delivered on 26th March 2010 in a new specially-built Operating Theatre Simulation Suite.
It was attended by a group of self-selected trainees interested in refreshing their knowledge, practicing their technical and non-technical skills and reflecting on their practice in the safe environment of a simulation laboratory. The course was successfully repeated three times over the next few months in several other locations in Dublin, Cork and Westport and was followed by excellent feedback from delegates and Faculty alike. These initial AE courses marked the foundation of CAST.
The programme became a mandatory component of specialist anaesthesiology training in July 2010. More single-, sub- and multi- specialty courses were gradually added to the simulation curriculum, which currently encompasses nine mandatory simulation courses for specialist anaesthesiology trainees as well as several other simulation programmes for non- training scheme doctors, consultants and nurses. There is also annual Train-the-Trainer simulation instructors programme as well as several popular simulation fellowships, which ensure that an adequate pool of trained Faculty is always available for CAST delivery and sustainability.
New state-of-the-art facilities and modern simulation equipment have been added in recent years, for improved learning impact and realism. The CAI will continue to support CAST and invest in simulation training for the benefit of anaesthesiologists in training and consultants. It is our ambition that CAST will remain at the forefront of simulation training both in Ireland and overseas. To mark the anniversary, we have retrieved a selection of photographs from early CAST days, which can be viewed in Early Days Photo Gallery. (A/Prof. Crina Burlacu, CAI Director of Simulation).