Development of an anaesthesia resident curriculum at the European level

SummaryThe European Section and Board of Anaesthesiology has recently published new guidelines for specialist education. These guidelines have undergone a major revision towards a competence-based approach. Basically, apart from having to take into account the development of the specialty, with enlarged responsibilities outside the operating theatre, the revision was needed in order to set standards and define contents, harmonized for all European and affiliate countries, taking into account the important and modern principles of medical specialist education. Hence, instead of focusing on medical scientific knowledge and minimal numbers of procedures, the new guidelines start by defining the competencies that residents in our specialty should attain, based on the outcomes needed by health care systems and our modern society, where accountability and professionalism are increasingly demanded.