Anesthetist trainees assisted by simulator

A €140,000 simulator has started being used at Mater Dei Hospitals to train doctors specialising in anaesthesia.

The simulator, which has been in Malta since February, is set up in an operating theatre that is not being used.

Should this theatre be needed, the simulator can be dismantled in two hours.

Joseph Zarb Adami, chairman of Anaesthesia and Intensive Care at Mater Dei, said that programmes for the simulator were currently being created.

The simulator, a dummy which carries out most bodily functions including breathing and urinating, is 'given' anaesthetic by the trainee and the programme presents a crisis designed to simulate something that could happen for real, such as a reaction to antibiotics.

There are 30 situations which could be faced and which the trainees have to act on it within four minutes, which is the time allotted in such situations.

The trainee carrying out the task is watched by cameras and the actions taken are recorded.

The students then go through the recording to analyse the good and the bad.

Maltese doctors have been trained in anaesthesia in Malta since 1982. Four years ago, a government scheme offering funding was launched. This is run by the training committee of the Association of Anaesthetists and the Department of Anaesthesia of Mater Dei.

There are currently 20 doctors specialising in anaesthesia.