News from the WFSA

Angela Enright
President of the WFSA 

I am pleased to have this opportunity to update you on the activities of the World Federation of Societies of Anesthesiologists. The very successful 14^th World Congress in Cape Town marked the beginning of a new four year cycle for the WFSA. At that time, new officers were elected, new members joined committees and new societies joined the Federation bringing the membership to 122 societies. By virtue of membership in your national society, you become a member of the WFSA. Over the course of the next four years via this newsletter, we will highlight some of our activities.

The goal of the WFSA is to improve the standard of anesthesia world-wide. That is a huge undertaking but, as you all know, the journey of 1000 miles begins with a single step. The WFSA approaches this objective in many ways. Perhaps the best known is through our Education committee work. We support higher level training at our centres which are found in Africa, Asia, Europe and Latin America. Fellowship level training is available in a variety of subspecialties including cardiac, obstetric and pediatric anesthesia, intensive care and pain management. Information about the programmes can be found on our website at www.anaesthesiologists.org. In addition, the Education committee assists with provision of teachers and speakers for workshops and meetings, runs a course for the improvement of teaching skills in anesthesia and also one for biomedical technicians for the care and maintenance of anesthesia equipment.

The Publications committee of the WFSA produces the journal Update in Anesthesia. It is available on the website and also in a print edition. It comes in several languages – French, Spanish, Russian and Mandarin. Also available on the website is the Tutorial of the Week. A different topic is chosen weekly and reviewed in depth. Both the Tutorial and Update are easily downloadable and, when collected together, form the basis of a textbook of anesthesia.

The Committee on Safety and Quality has been very active, working to produce Guidelines for Safe Practice. These were updated and approved in Cape Town and are available on the website. We realize that, for some, these will be goals to attain in the future. Nevertheless it is important to set out what should be the expected standards of practice world-wide. The World Health Organization has recognized that, without safe anesthesia, there will be no safe surgery. Therefore, in its new initiative Safe Surgery Saves Lives, anesthesia holds a prominent place. This programme was launched by WHO in June 2008. It introduces a Safety Check List for use before, during and after surgery. You will hear a great deal more about this in the coming months. As part of this checklist, use of a pulse oximeter is included. The Committee on Safety has been working to develop a low cost oximeter which is now in trials in India, the Philippines, Uganda and Vietnam. You can learn more about all of these activities in our next bulletin.

The WFSA formed a new Scientific Committee during the meeting in Cape Town. The focus will be on developing relationships between departments, particularly in the areas of scientific research and publication. It is hoped that experienced academic departments will share their expertise with those just beginning their development. The committee will also be available to assist with advice on the scientific content of meetings or to make suggestions for speakers if asked. The committee will organize WFSA symposia for major regional meetings.

In addition to all of the above activities, there are groups of hardworking people on the subspecialty committees. These include obstetrics, pain, pediatrics and resuscitation. These groups focus on their particular area of interest but with the same overall aim i.e. to improve the standard of anesthesia.  All WFSA committees include broad geographic representation. Trauma is not forgotten with the WFSA support for the Primary Trauma Care Foundation. This is dedicated to improving trauma care and has now got programmes running in countries all over the world.

During the next four years, you will be able to read much more detail about some of these activities as the Chairs of these committees will write bulletins for publication in the newsletter. For up to the minute information, please consult the WFSA website or contact any of the officers, executive committee or committee chairs through our office in London. We would love to hear from you with questions or suggestions about our activities. If you would like to support the work of the WFSA, you can make a donation on-line to the WFSA Foundation. No matter how small, your gift would be most appreciated and 100% of it used to keep our educational programmes running.