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An anaesthetic preoperative assessment service should involve consultant anaesthetists and staff grade, associate specialist and specialty (SAS) doctors.5,6,51 Dedicated anaesthetic presence in the preoperative assessment and preparation clinic is...
An anaesthetic preoperative assessment service should involve consultant anaesthetists and staff grade, associate specialist and specialty (SAS) doctors.5,6,51 Dedicated anaesthetic presence in the preoperative assessment and preparation clinic is required for:
- the review of results and concerns identified by nursing staff
- consultations with patients identified by a triage process to allow optimal delivery of preoperative...
The 2021 SAS contract reform introduced a new strategic role to support the health and wellbeing of the SAS workforce, the ‘SAS Advocate’. This role provides an opportunity to challenge the status quo, and to potentially change the culture and expectations associated with being an SAS doctor.
Perhaps the most common barrier to meaningful change is culture. Individuals and organisations can both be guilty of assuming that the status quo always exists for a reason. However, there is perhaps no more dangerous justification for continuing to do something than that ‘we have always done it this way’.
COVID-19 has dominated and it is easy to focus on the negatives, but, as an eternal optimist, I see many positives. I had three objectives when I became dean, the first of which was to promote our specialty.
I think everyone now knows what we do and, as a result, we have increased training numbers, expanded capacity, and embedded enhanced care. My second objective was to develop international partnerships. Despite travel being restricted, embracing digital platforms afforded us the opportunity to work with the College of Intensive Care Medicine of Australia and New Zealand and the Apollo group in India.