Undergraduate Anesthesia Skills for a Global Surgery Agenda: Students' Self-Reported Competence

BACKGROUND: Safe anesthesia is imperative for the Global Surgery agenda and Sustainable Development Goal 3. Due to a shortage of specialists in South Africa (SA), anesthetic services are often provided by nonspecialist doctors, often newly qualified and frequently without immediate supervision. The burden of disease in the developing world demands fit-for-purpose, day-one medical graduates. Although undergraduate anesthesia training is mandatory for medical students in SA, no outcomes are specified, and these are decided autonomously at each medical school. This study describes the current self-perceived anesthetic competence of medical students in SA as a needs assessment directed at achieving the goals of Global Surgery in SA and other developing countries. METHODS: In this cross-sectional observational study, 1689 students (89% participation rate), representing all medical schools in SA, rated their self-perceived competence at graduation in 54 anesthetic-related Likert scale items in 5 themes: patient evaluation, patient preparation for anesthesia, practical skills performance, administration of anesthesia, and the management of intraoperative complications. Medical schools were divided into clusters A (>= 25 days of anesthetic training) and B (<25 days). Descriptive statistics, Fisher exact test, and a mixed-effects regression model were used in the statistical analysis. RESULTS: Students felt more prepared for history-taking and patient examination than for managing emergencies and complications. The self-perceived competence of students at cluster A schools was higher across all 54 items and all 5 themes. The same was observed for general medical skills and skills relating to maternal mortality in SA. CONCLUSIONS: Time-on-task, capacity for repetition, and student maturity might have impacted self-efficacy and should be considered in curriculum development. Students felt less prepared for emergencies. Focused training and assessment aimed at emergency management should be considered. Students did not feel competent in general medical areas, in which anesthetists are experts, including resuscitation, fluid management, and analgesia. Anesthetists should take ownership of this training at the undergraduate level. Cesarean delivery is the most performed surgical procedure in sub-Saharan Africa. The Essential Steps in Managing Obstetric Emergencies (ESMOE) program was designed for internship training but can be introduced at undergraduate level. This study suggests that curriculum reform is required. The achievement of an agreed-upon set of standardized national undergraduate anesthetic competencies may ensure fit-for-purpose practitioners. Undergraduate and internship training should align to form part of a continuum of basic anesthetics training in SA. The findings of this study might benefit curriculum development in other regions with similar contexts.