Ireland

Fellowship location: Tallaght University Hospital, Tallaght, Dublin, D24 NR0A

Fellowship duration: 1 year

Contact person:Dr Patrick Conroy Consultant Anaesthetist,  Dept Anaesthesia, Tallaght University Hospital, Tallaght, Dublin, D24 NR0A. Email: Patrick.conroy@tuh.ie

Jobs available: 1 post for 1 year duration- commencement typically in early July each year

This post is usually filled via one of 2 possible routes.

1) Advertised via the College Anaesthetist of Ireland as part of the SAT 7 post CCST Scheme for Fellowship training the advertisement usually is sent out by the College itself directly to eligible trainees who have successfully completed the CAI SAT Programme. This notification is emailed out directly to eligible trainees who have successfully completed the CAI SAT Programme. Typically during mid to late July of the preceding year e.g. during July 2026 for the post commencing in July 2027.

2) If the post is not filled by way of this recruitment drive then a separate recruitment process is advertised directly from the TUH medical recruitment website.

This typically occurs between the preceding January and March each year  i.e. between January and March  2027 for the post commencing July 2027.

Daily support and training for Regional Anaesthesia Fellow
The Fellowship will offer protected training time with a lesser focus on service delivery. Four out of five normal weekday work days will be spent in the Regional Anaesthesia Block Bay performing regional anaesthesia procedures under supervision from 0800 to 1700 hrs. One day per week (Thursday) will be allocated for research activities as a Non-Clinical day. The Regional Anaesthesia Fellow will be facilitated to maintain their broader professional competencies in anaesthesia by contributing to senior 3rd on call roster.

This will serve to maintain continuity of care in the Block Bay, maximise regional anaesthesia exposure for the Fellow as well as maintain compliance with the European Working Time directive (EWTD).

There are 4 Fellowship trained Consultants with a special interest Regional Anaesthesia. At least one of these named Consultants will always be present to advise and guide the Regional Anaesthesia Fellow on a daily basis in theatre. In conjunction with this supervising consultant the duties of the Regional Anaesthesia fellow will be:

Follow-up of Post-operative Regional anaesthesia patients from the day prior.
Based on the regional anaesthesia electronic patient log from the day before (or for Fridays and the weekend in the case of Monday mornings) the Fellow will visit those patients who are still inpatients on the ward. The purpose of the visit will be to review the patient’s analgesic requirements and to determine block duration. Block-related complications will also be looked for and recorded in a standardised format on the electronic anaesthesia patient record. Those patients discharged as day cases will be telephoned by the Fellow to record the same information.

Planned list of regional anaesthesia procedures to be performed each day.
The Regional Anaesthesia fellow will finalise this list by review of the cases on the electronic operating theatre schedule between 08:00-08:30hrs. This list will be generated by the Fellow following a review of all the cases on the 12 operating lists. It is the responsibility of the Fellow to communicate directly with the anaesthesia, nursing and surgical team from each theatre where a patient has been deemed suitable for regional anaesthesia- this communication should occur first thing in the morning. Following consultation with the relevant surgical, nursing and anaesthesia teams at the theatre morning team briefing a consensus plan relating to the performance of regional anaesthesia in a particular patient is agreed between the Regional Anaesthesia Fellow, the surgical and other members of the anaesthesia and nursing teams.

Maintenance of the Electronic Regional Anaesthesia Patient Record and Procedure Database.
Details of all peripheral and neuraxial nerve block procedures will be recorded in the relevant section of the customised electronic anaesthesia patient record (GE Centricity Anaesthesia®). Thus Fellows will receive feed-back on patient’s actual clinical outcomes on the basis of the data collected above as well as continuous assessment of their clinical performance.
Automated performance reports will be generated from Centricity GE utilising Crystal reports software.

Through focussed exposure to the performance of regional anaesthesia it is envisaged that the Regional Anaesthesia Fellow will become proficient in the steps of preoperative patient assessment and arriving at informed consent for various regional anaesthesia procedures. Fellows will also learn and practice the performance of all the basic and advanced peripheral nerve block techniques through an apprentice type model of learning using ultrasound guidance.

Educational Development & Learning goals - Regional Anaesthesia Fellow

Opportunities for audit/research:
This fellowship provides ample opportunities for research and audit. The presence of a large patient pool, availability of regional anaesthesia expertise, computerised data collection system and guidance available for research (one of our Regional Anaesthesia consultant faculty has a PhD in Anaesthesia from UCC). This will provide an ideal environment to foster research. Furthermore being a University Teaching Hospital affiliated to Trinity College Dublin (TCD) we have ample opportunity to collaborate with various university departments facilitating laboratory and/or animal research.

Protected non-Clinical Time:
A dedicated non-clinical day every Thursday will be facilitated to allow audit and research. Every Fellow appointed will audit an aspect of patient care – this will be facilitated by the maintenance of the electronic block database of all peripheral nerve block procedures. In addition clinical research will also be encouraged and actively supported and novel ideas in this regard will be welcomed.

European Diploma in Regional Anaesthesia
Each Fellow appointed will receive Consultant delivered tuition both in terms of practical clinical skills as well as academic teaching. This will allow the Fellow to successfully meet the necessary criteria to attain the internationally recognised specialist qualification of EDRA (European Diploma in Regional Anaesthesia).