Perioperative Pain Management Simulation Course: Improving Anesthesia Trainees’ Confidence in the Management of Perioperative Pain and the Associated Critical Incidents

Introduction Pain management is a crucial aspect of patients' perioperative journey and a fundamental duty of every anesthetist. Throughout anesthesia training, there is an emphasis on the management of critical incidents, several of which surround pain management. With changes to the anesthesia curriculum over recent years, variable exposure to training opportunities, and a reduction in clinical hours during training, many trainees report feeling underprepared for their future roles as consultants. However, pain management remains a small fragment of the core anesthesia curriculum with no pain-focused simulation courses currently available across the UK. Simulation has proven to aid learning transfer in complicated and stressful scenarios with a substantial improvement in knowledge retention and prevention of skill loss while eliminating the risk of harm to patients. Aim A novel perioperative pain management simulation course was designed and implemented in the East of England to equip junior anesthesia trainees with the knowledge, skills, and confidence to manage perioperative pain and the associated critical incidents. Methods A multidisciplinary team (MDT) was involved in the course design. The faculty consisted of anesthesia consultants, trainees, pain nurses, and simulation technicians. The course ran twice over a six-month period both locally and regionally. A blended learning approach was adopted where 17 trainees attended PowerPoint presentations providing an overview of basic pain theories, perioperative pain management, regional anesthesia, and labor analgesia. Trainees then underwent telecasted simulation training using replicated patient notes, imaging, blood gas analysis, and a high-fidelity SimMan®. A debriefing period followed each scenario using Pendleton's model. An anonymized questionnaire was completed by all trainees before and after the course to assess improvement in their knowledge and confidence levels across four domains covering the management of perioperative pain. Results All 17 trainees completed the questionnaire; therefore, the entire dataset was analyzed. The pre-course questionnaire showed that using a scale of zero to 10, the vast majority of trainees reported low levels of confidence (<6/10) in the management of chronic pain during the perioperative period (82%), intraoperative pain management (76%), regional anesthesia (88%), and labor analgesia (65%). Following the simulation training, the results showed an overwhelmingly positive improvement in all 17 trainees’ knowledge and confidence across all four tested domains. All 17 trainees (100%) also showed an improvement in their understanding of local pain protocols. The subjective feedback was positive, highlighting the overall usefulness of the course and that the tailored complexity of each simulation scenario was appropriate to each candidate's prior level of experience. Trainees also reported feeling more confident in starting their anesthesia on-calls. Conclusion This novel simulation course is the first of its kind in pain management. It has shown great improvements in trainee confidence in managing perioperative pain and the associated critical incidents. Subjective feedback has also been positively reassuring. Its inclusion into the East of England anesthesia training program and national training curriculum would greatly enhance trainee’s knowledge and experience in pain management in the perioperative setting.