The 2024 Family Practice Anesthesiology (FPA) Online Journal Club integrated feedback to help rural family physician anesthetists (FPAs) build meaningful connections with colleagues and specialists and apply current best practices in the field of anesthesiology.
Each session ran weekly for three weeks from September to November to address topics like pediatric anesthesiology, pain management anesthesiology and obstetric anesthesiology. Specialists Dr. Zoe Brown, Dr. Vishal Varshney and Dr. Roanne Preston explored up-to-date articles and studies and led lively case discussions.
Through asynchronous and flexible learning in this program, participants gain the ability to:
- identify key points of articles and put them into context
- discuss the validity of study findings
- consider how results and conclusions apply to rural practice and may apply to policy, education and future research.
Sharpening clinical thinking through CPD
UBC CPD’s Family Practice Anesthesiology (FPA) Online Journal Club commenced in 2016 and was reinstated in 2023, bringing a more accessible learning format to rural family physician anesthetists (FPAs) to help build connections with colleagues and apply current best practices.
Organized by champion medical lead from the Family Practice Anesthesia (FPA) Network, Dr. Kirk McCarroll, Rural CPD Education Manager, Angela Wagner, Senior Program Assistant & CPD Concierge, Hadas Haft and UBC Clinical Instructor Dr. Kurt Deschner, the FPA Journal Club provides a space for rural FPAs to discuss pearls and share articles with one another.
Dr. Kirk McCarroll says, “CPD opportunities specific to family physician anesthetists are quite limited due to the relatively small number of physicians engaged in this type of practice. Our scope of practice is significantly different from that of a Fellow of the Royal College of Physicians of Canada (FRCPC) anesthesiologist, and it is difficult to find CPD opportunities that address the unique educational needs of FPAs. Both the UBC CPD FPA Refresher and now the annual FPA Journal club are both specifically designed to meet those unique needs.”
When asked what key learning “pearls” participants would take away from the online journal club, 2024 evaluators stated:
- emergency fasting recommendations
- adjusting bupivacaine dosing for urgent C-sections
- considerations of gastric residual during anesthesia
- adding sodium bicarb to epidural top-ups
- sense of current recommendations for prevention of aspiration in pediatrics
and more.
Connecting with colleagues
Dr. Kirk McCarroll reflects on the importance of collaboration among family physician anesthesiologists (FPAs):
“The journal club was a terrific venue to share our current approaches to clinical scenarios and to debate pros and cons of different techniques with colleagues working in similar environments. The literature presented by our specialist moderators served as a standard or benchmark with which to compare our varied approaches. Every single participant took away at least one practical pearl that will enhance the care they provide.”
When asked about the most effective parts of the online journal club, 2024 course participants stated there were “excellent article choices providing informative discussion,” an “opportunity to participate in conversations about aspects of anesthetic care with both specialists and colleagues around the province” and “engage with colleagues around [British Columbia] and very experienced and helpful mentors.”
Rural CPD aims to continue to engage with feedback to improve the Family Practice Anesthesiology (FPA) Online Journal Club.
Sign up to be notified for the next journal club session opening.