Trainee anaesthetists understand their work in different ways : implications for specialist education

• Background. Traditionally, programmes for specialist educationin anaesthesia and intensive care have been based on lists ofattributes such as skills and knowledge. However, modern researchin the science of teaching has shown that competence developmentis linked to changes in the way professionals understand theirwork. The aim of this study was to define the different waysin which trainee anaesthetists understand their work.Methods. Nineteen Swedish trainee anaesthetists were interviewed.The interviews sought the answers to three open-ended questions.(i) When do you feel you have been successful in your work?(ii) What is difficult or what hinders you in your work? (iii)What is the core of your anaesthesia work? Transcripts of theinterviews were analysed by a phenomenographic approach, a researchmethod aiming to determine the various ways a group of peopleunderstand a phenomenon.Results. Six ways of understanding their work were defined:giving anaesthesia according to a standard plan; taking responsibilityfor the patient’s vital functions; minimizing the patient’ssuffering and making them feel safe; giving service to specialistdoctors to facilitate their care of patients; organizing andleading the operating theatre and team; and developing one’sown competence, using the experience gained from every new patientfor learning.Conclusions. Trainee anaesthetists understand their work indifferent ways. The trainee’s understanding affects bothhis/her way of performing work tasks and how he/she developsnew competences. A major task for teachers of anaesthesia isto create learning situations whereby trainees can focus onnew aspects of their professional work and thus develop newways of understanding it.

Ämnesord

MEDICIN OCH HÄLSOVETENSKAP  -- Hälsovetenskap (hsv//swe)

MEDICAL AND HEALTH SCIENCES  -- Health Sciences (hsv//eng)

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