Development of an anaesthesia resident curriculum at the European level

The 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