Birmingham Children’s Hospital now offers three one year posts in paediatric anaesthesia. They aim to provide training to advanced level in paediatric anaesthesia as outlined in the Royal College of Anaesthetists 2010 curriculum for the CCT in anaesthesia.
These posts are suitable for trainees during or after their higher level training in anaesthesia – ie in years 5-7 of Speciality Training, or for those who have recently acquired the CCT in anaesthesia and wish to spend a period of consolidation in the subspeciality. It is expected that fellows will have already done a higher level placement in paediatric anaesthesia. Two of the posts start in May and are usually advertised the previous July / August with interviews in September / October. One post will start in November and will be advertised in February / March of that year.
The hospital can provide excellent clinical experience in all areas of paediatric surgery and anaesthesia, including cardiac, cardiology, hepatobiliary, liver and small bowl transplantation, general surgery including laparoscopic surgery, burns and reconstructive surgery, plastic surgery including cleft lip and palate surgery, orthopaedic surgery, ENT, urology, ophthalmology including retinoblastoma treatment, craniofacial surgery, neurosurgery, maxillofacial surgery, oral and dental surgery. In addition, the department provides anaesthesia for: paediatric endoscopies, laser treatment for haemangiomas, joint injections for children with arthritis, paediatric radiotherapy, MRI, CT, Interventional Radiology, oncology treatment and investigation including intrathecal chemotherapy, bone marrow aspirate and trephine, insertion of hickmann lines. There is an active acute pain service run by a combination of anaesthetic consultants and acute pain nurses. The department currently has 27 consultant anaesthetists and separate consultant on-call rotas for general, cardiac and liver duties.
The anaesthetic service at Birmingham Children’s Hospital is largely consultant based, however there are ample opportunities for fellows to do solo lists to gain confidence and experience. As with the Speciality Trainees, the Fellows will always work under supervision of a nominated consultant anaesthetist at all times. The level of supervision for fellows is identical to speciality trainees – ie all will have a minimum of three directly supervised sessions per week on average. The educational opportunities are also the same as for speciality trainees, and fellows are encouraged to attend weekly tutorials and department meetings – typically 2-3 hours per week. Fellows are encouraged to be involved in audit and research, time will be provided to do this to reflect the needs of the individual – usually one day per week. Currently the fellows take part in the Speciality Trainee resident on-call rota.
The hospital has a very busy 22 bedded PICU, which is being expanded to 30 beds over the next few years. Most fellows in paediatric anaesthesia will spend 2-3 months working in PICU during the one year placement.