Harmonisation of anaesthesiology training in Europe

The last 20 years has seen many changes in medical education, with reforms taking place in undergraduate health-care studies with the application of the Bologna principles and also transfer of the same educational principles to postgraduate medical specialty training. It is the aim of this article to grossly sketch and contextualise these reforms in the rapidly evolving European Union, before defining harmonisation of the medical postgraduate training and the bodies involved in this process; thereafter, the authors try to present the potential consensus points that can make the process of harmonisation in anaesthesiology postgraduate training in Europe become a reality. Finally, a brief outline of the potential challenges concludes the paper.