Survey of pediatric continuing professional development undertaken by consultant anesthetists

Whilst not all anesthetists have a regular pediatric commitment there is a need for out of hours cover of pediatric anesthesia. We have attempted to determine who covers pediatric anesthetic services in the District General Hospital setting.

A postal survey of 170 consultant anesthetists in nine District General Hospitals was conducted looking at who is responsible for pediatric anesthetics and emergencies out of hours as well as pediatric anesthetic experience, resuscitation training and continuing professional development (CPD).

There was a 62% response rate with 98% of the consultants with on call duties also covering pediatric anesthetic emergencies. Fifty percent of consultants who responded were within 4 years of a pediatric-specific resuscitation course, of which 93% had found it useful. However, 40% had never completed a pediatric resuscitation course or it could be considered out of date. Sixty-three percent of consultants had had some sort of pediatric anesthetic update in the last 4 years.

General anesthetists are responsible for elective and emergency anesthetics as well as the care of critically ill children outside of specialist centers. This is despite a proportion of these consultants not having regular pediatric experience, not having completed a recent pediatric resuscitation course and without pediatric anesthetic CPD.