Every anaesthetist aims to keep their patients safe. We aim to safeguard every anaesthetist.
Follows/Likes/RTs ≠ endorsements. Monitored 9:00-17:00, Mon-Fri
(1/2) The views in this letter are abhorrent, unrepresentative of the specialty of anaesthesia and we condemn them absolutely. We reiterate our public stand against all forms of sexual harassment and our support for the NHS England’s Sexual Safety Charter.
(2/2) We are astonished that
@thetimes
have chosen to publish this letter. Once again, one man has been given a platform to speak about something he will never be unanswerable for, yet millions of women live with the consequences of everyday.
Statement 👉
Mothers should be encouraged to breastfeed as normal after anaesthesia says the new guideline being published today in the Association’s
@Anaes_Journal
coinciding with
#WorldBreastfeedingWeek
Learn more:
“TIVA is accepted as more environmentally friendly than inhalational anaesthesia, however, plastic accounts for nearly half the carbon footprint per case”
🔓‘TIVA from a bottle’ – a method for reducing plastic waste during total intravenous anaesthesia’ 👉
“As a rule of thumb, if you’re ever unsure of which bit of equipment you need, it's usually the one in the ODP’s hand.”
Read a day in the life of an anaesthetic registrar:
Over the past year, there have been many developments in how both Government and the profession view the role of Anaesthesia Associates.
Read our position on Anaesthesia Associates
👉
New Association guideline on safe injection practice in hospitals emphasises the importance of prefilled & labelled syringes in avoiding medication errors
Read 'Handling injectable medications in anaesthesia' published in
@Anaes_Journal
👉
Factors of a fatigued workforce:
• High-pressure working environments,
• Long working hours,
• Shift and/or nights,
• A lack of appropriate rest facilities
Ahead of
#WorldSleepDay
, download & share our
#fatigue
resource packs today:
#FightFatigue
Today is World Anaesthesia Day 2023 🥳
On this day in 1846, Dr William T.F Morton performed the first successful demonstration of ether anaesthesia.
Read about this year’s theme, ‘anaesthesia and cancer care’ 👉
#
#WAD2023
#OncoAnaesthesia
Read this thought provoking article on safe medicines handling; ‘Standardisation, syringe labelling & prefilled syringes’👉
The Association is finalising guidelines on this subject, please look out for the consultation in the next few weeks and comment
🚨New joint
#COVID19
guidance hub launched!🚨
We've partnered with
@FICMNews
@ICS_updates
&
@RCoANews
to create & share new clinical guidance, information & resources for UK anaesthetists & intensivists to manage COVID-19.
Visit for ongoing updates.
Doctors at Hereford County Hospital are being encouraged to take short power naps following the installation of sleep pods, as part of the national
#FightFatigue
campaign
@WyeValleyNHS
Congratulations to past President of the Association of Anaesthetists, Dr Andrew Hartle
@startle65
on his promotion to Professor of Practice (Anaesthesia) at
@imperialcollege
Dr Tim Meek has been named as President Elect of the Association of Anaesthetists.
He takes up this post at
#AC2023
in Edinburgh today, before formally taking up the post of President of the Association in September 2024 at Annual Congress in Harrogate
Happy
#ODPday
to all our amazing ODP colleagues. Thank you for the great work you do every day in theatre.
“As a rule of thumb, if you’re ever unsure of which bit of equipment you need, it's usually the one in the ODP's hand”
#teamanaesthesia
@CollegeODP
Yesterday's webinar,
#COVID
-19 update: what you need to know on the frontline, is now online, free and open to members and non-members.
This is advice from doctors on the front-line for doctors on the front-line.
#coronavirusuk
#coronavirus
"The alarm wakes me at 6. I lie there contemplating whether I really need this job. Maybe I can save enough by living off the land Good Life style, cancelling Netflix and sewing my clothes from hemp?"
Read 'A day in the life of an anaesthetic registrar'
“It is disappointing that the plan says nothing about the need to address pay erosion as a necessary part of fixing retention"
Read the open letter 📝on the NHS Workforce Plan to Secretary of State
@SteveBarclay
👉
Too often, trainee doctors have to turn to extreme measures to stay awake after a shift, using stimulants such as caffeine, loud music and winding down the window on the drive home...
The latest Education Shot video, by
@BenjaminLukeFox
demonstrates the surface landmarks, probe position, anatomy, sonoanatomy, scanning technique and simulated injection for all of the Plan A nerve blocks.
📺 Watch now:
Now on Learn@: 'The NHS pension crisis' - Dr Tony Goldstone, National Clinician Adviser on Pay and Pensions, offers expert advice on a complex issue at
#WSM2020
@AAGBI
follows the topic closely and you can keep updated by following us on social media
"As soon as I am scrubbed, get the epidural trolley set up, and start to paint the chlorhexidine on her back, there's that announcement, 'I need to push'. Still, I suppose that's one less dural tap."
A day in the life of an on-call obstetric trainee
“In 1996 a Sunday tabloid outed me, the RAF suspended me, then dismissed me”
Read the article by
@scotgasdoc
@LeylsTurk
&
@startle65
about ‘Pride and (persisting) prejudice(s)’ in anaesthesia in the September issue of Anaesthesia News:
Following the tragic death of an anaesthetic trainee who fell asleep at the wheel while driving home after a night shift, an agenda for action to address the impact of fatigue and shift working on the
#NHS
workforce was made
Please take care, get involved and
#FightFatigue
#MHAW
“We have learned today that Dr Krishnan Subramanian, a Consultant Anaesthetist at the Royal Derby Hospital, has died after falling ill with COVID-19.
We are deeply saddened by the loss of a colleague and extend our heartfelt condolences”
Statement:
“Worse-case estimates are that during an individual anaesthetist’s career they may use 50,400 50 ml syringes, equating to 1.66 tonnes of plastic waste”
🔓‘‘TIVA from a bottle’ – a method for reducing plastic waste during total intravenous anaesthesia’ 👉
Happy
#WorldAnaesthesiaDay
everyone! 🧡
Today we'll be highlighting different ways of supporting the specialty, both here (in the UK and Ireland) and globally.
#WAD2018
New research published in
@Anaes_Journal
suggests that surgery should be delayed for seven weeks after a patient tests positive for
#COVID
ー19
It shows surgery that takes place between 0-6 weeks after diagnosis is associated with increased mortality:
Today is
#WorldSleepDay
. A rested healthcare professional is safer for everyone. Make sure you know the facts on
#fatigue
and sleep.
Download and use our free educational resources and help
#FightFatigue
:
'Disaster Planning During a
#COVID
ー19 Outbreak'
Please read and share our guidance now. This document will be regularly updated and will change with the progression of the outbreak.
#coronavirusuk
#coronavirus
The successful candidates in the 2020 election to the Trainee Committee are: Dr Adam Al-Attar, Dr Tara Byott, Dr Stuart Edwardson, Dr Naomi Freeman & Dr Joanna Poole.
Their terms officially begin at the Trainee Update meeting on 18 September.
👉
Congratulations to all the members of the working party behind the guideline Implementing human factors in anaesthesia for being awarded the Humphry Davy award by
@RCoANews
!🏅🏆
Happy
#WorldAnaesthesiaDay
marking 1st successful demonstration of ether anaesthesia 16 Oct 1846. Modern anaesthesia is a well-established medical specialty delivered by highly-trained doctors supported by clinical standards that focus on
#patientsafety
Use of desflurane is at its lowest levels across the NHS, with at least 40 trusts eliminating it altogether. Anaesthetic gases = 2% of NHS carbon footprint, so this is a significant success story on the road to delivering net zero.
As per
@GreenerNHS
Become an active bystander: challenge unprofessional behaviour
Find out more about
#KnockItOut
: tackling workplace bullying, harassment and undermining and download the infographics here:
#AntiBullyingWeek
Anaesthesia journal has published a new special issue: Fundamentals and innovations in regional anaesthesia
The issue includes 16 articles which are free to download and read.
Read it now:
#FOAMed
@Anaes_Journal
We are deeply concerned about the impact of growing rota gaps, inadequate rest facilities, and the demanding culture faced by young doctors. We are here to support the wellbeing of our colleagues and ensure their concerns are recognised at the highest level.
#RCoAMoraleReport
#RCoAMoraleReport
makes a number of recommendations to change the workplace
#culture
in relation to the welfare and morale for doctors of all grades working in all specialties.
The
#NHS
needs to implement a
#listening
culture:
We believe it's time for healthcare professions and NHS managers to acknowledge that working at night is not the same as working in the day.
For the sake of patient safety, steps must be taken to manage night working safely
#NationalBedMonth
🆕 Anaesthesia training in the UK: best practice for today and concepts for the future has been released
Created by
@Anaes_Trainees
, the aim is to spark a national conversation about how to best train anaesthetists for the future 💡
Read it now ⬇️
🔗
The next video in our Education Shot series is out now! This week Dr
@sally_ghazali
gives a brief overview of inotropes and vasopressors.
Watch it now:
The Quick Reference Handbook helps clinicians focus on delivering care, using the skills and knowledge they already have. All clinicians should become familiar with the QRH and be practised in its use, so it's automatically reached for in a crisis
Access:
"24 hours on-call - a complete lottery. A nightmare for the control freak inside every anaesthetist who wants to plan everything to the last detail...but still a source of excitement."
Read 'A day in the life of an on-call consultant anaesthetist'
Following the tragic death of an anaesthetic trainee who fell asleep at the wheel while driving home after a night shift, we joined forces with
@RCoANews
&
@FICMNews
to address the impact of fatigue on the
#NHS
workforce.
Read our joint statement and RT to help
#FightFatigue
:
New: Guideline for the management of hip fractures 2020
Describing the core aims and principles of peri‐operative management, recommending greater standardisation of anaesthetic practice as a component of multidisciplinary care
🔐
Endorsed by
@GeriSoc
The Quick Reference Handbook (QRH) is a collection of guidelines for unexpected or uncommon anaesthesia-related emergencies.
It aims to ensure the response to a crisis is as organised and all-encompassing as possible:
We are enormously disappointed to read that Practitioner Health are halting new registrations from secondary care.
We are concerned for our members who may need immediate help, lack local trust support, or have confidentiality concerns.
Full statement🔗
Last night at the
@bmj_latest
Awards, the joint Fatigue group won Workforce & Wellbeing Team of the Year
"Every other safety critical industry has a formal
#Fatigue
Risk Management Strategy, and this group believes that healthcare should have the same."
Today is
#WorldSuicidePreventionDay
Anaesthetists are traditionally considered at greater risk of taking their own lives. To understand the impact of suicide within our speciality we're inviting anaesthetists/intensive care drs to fill in our survey
"One question patients can ask is about the type of anesthesia. People may think of general anesthetic as an inevitable part of surgery, but there are other options." Great advice that echoes a lot of the questions patients submitted to our survey!
We're deeply saddened to hear of the death of Her Majesty The Queen and offer our condolences to the Royal Family at this very sad time. We express our gratitude for The Queen’s decades of public service as the longest-reigning monarch in British history
“The advent of anaesthesia meant that enduring immense physical pain was perhaps one less thing to worry about for patients facing an operation”
‘Blood and Blocks: Nerve Blocks in Anaesthesia’ by
@Anaes_Heritage
The
@AAGBI
,
@RCoA_News
&
@FICMNews
joint educational resources were sent to
#NHS
Trusts & Health Boards to provide a practical solution to the many problems
#fatigue
causes
Ahead of
#WorldSleepDay
, you can download these resources, free, here:
Please RT
Inotropes and vasopressors are commonly used in both anaesthesia and intensive care so it is important to understand indications and how they work.
This bitesize education video gives a brief overview of the topic 👉
Today is the first day of
#SASweek23
🌟
SAS doctors are important members of any hospital department, especially anaesthesia, yet have difficulty gaining the recognition they deserve. Read our SAS handbook 2023 to better understand their role.
"It is good at last to see a set of long-term goals for the National Health Service which present a vision of increased staffing and increased capacity to provide care for our patients."
Our response to the NHS Long Term Workforce Plan 👉
Essential reading for your forthcoming trainee inductions and new rotations.
Available to download for free from our website:
#FightFatigue
P.S. Also look great on your noticeboards!
From
@Anaes_Journal
: A new study from 116 countries suggests surgery should be delayed for at least seven weeks following a
#COVID
ー19 diagnosis to reduce mortality risk.
More than 15,000 co-authors make this largest ever collaborative surgery study 👉
The Association has joined more than 100 healthcare organisations in condemning the decision by the US Supreme Court to overturn abortion ruling
#RoeVsWade
. Read the FIGO statement calling on all governments to defend access to safe & quality abortion care
We welcome the changes made in today’s
#Budget
that address some of the issues harming retention in the workforce (LTA, AA and negative PIAs). We acknowledge the work of
@BMA_Pensions
and
@goldstone_tony
in pressing for these changes and support them in their continuing work. 1/2
New research published in
@Anaes_journal
finds that surgery should be delayed for at least seven weeks after a patient tests positive for
#COVID
ー19, to reduce mortality risk.
More than 15,000 co-authors make this largest ever collaborative surgery study:
Don’t miss the first keynote of
#AC2022
: ‘The magic of the NHS’ by Mr Michael Rosen
@MichaelRosenYes
who will be presenting live, virtually, at 13:15 in the first floor auditorium.
🚦Have you worked lates or shifts this weekend?🚦
Alongside
@RCoANews
&
@FICMNews
, we created a traffic light system to help you assess your rest facilities at work & understand what you & your team can do to establish, improve or promote them, & the importance of rest culture.
“Unrecognised oesophageal intubation has devastating consequences for all involved”
🔐 Read ‘Unrecognised oesophageal intubation’ by
@Fionafionakel
in Anaesthesia News January:
“I had to be strong for my father and family, yet I was an emotional wreck”
Read voices from the front line - coping when a loved one has COVID-19 👉
#COVID19
Today we launch an important survey to understand the impact of suicide among anaesthetists in UK & Ireland. You don’t have to be an
@AAGBI
member to take part. Please share
Survey:
Campaign:
The Association &
@RCoANews
recommend that Wellbeing Leads are appointed in all anaesthetic departments in all hospitals across the UK
To support this, we have jointly published a Wellbeing Lead job description, requirements & person specification 👉
We're saddened that the current workforce situation in the
#NHS
has led junior doctors to vote to strike. Their decision rests on the failure of the pay review bodies and shines a light on a process that is broken and has had its independence questioned.
"Talking about
#gratitude
in the workplace it isn't a one-way street it's definitely a team game." -
@LeechCaroline
#Wellbeing
is an integral part of our work here at the Association, find out how we can support you:
Full lecture on YouTube.
@FamilyODP
@RCSnews
@bmj_latest
We firmly believe that ODPs are necessary, valued and respected members of the
#teamanaesthesia
. Safe anaesthesia depends upon trained assistance for the anaesthetist. Please see our recent guidelines on the key role of ODPs in theatres:
Guideline – Management of severe local anaesthetic toxicity
These guidelines cover but are not limited to: Signs of severe toxicity; Immediate management of a patient with severe local anaesthetic toxicity; Treatment; Follow up
Access here: