Anaesthetic log books. How are they being used?

Since 1989, the Royal College of Anaesthetists has encouraged trainees to keep log books, although there is little information about the benefits of this practice as a part of anaesthetic training. A postal survey of all grades of trainee anaesthetist in the North West Region of England was conducted to obtain information about the present use of log books. The survey showed that log books are only used diligently by the more junior grades of anaesthetic staff. Although the practice of keeping a log resulted in an increased ability of the trainee to describe his clinical experience, the subsequent exploitation of this information to monitor or correct deficiencies in training was disappointingly low.