Cork University Hospital

Regional Anaesthesia & Acute Pain Fellowship · Cork

A 12-month fellowship in regional anaesthesia and acute pain at the Major Trauma Centre for the South, with clinical and academic tracks.

The hospital

Cork University Hospital is a tertiary referral teaching hospital and the Major Trauma Centre for the South Trauma Network, with adult and paediatric services and the co-located Cork University Maternity Hospital. It is a principal teaching hospital for University College Cork.

The campus also includes the HSE South West Surgical Hub, with four theatres for elective day surgery.

Clinical experience

Fellows rotate week by week through four clinical areas, under the daily supervision of consultant regional anaesthesia specialists:

• Orthopaedic trauma and the block room. A rolling trauma list, including fracture, peri-prosthetic, shoulder and spine surgery, for patients aged from 1 to over 100. Expect 8–12 cases a day.
• Plastics trauma and the emergency department. Upper limb soft tissue trauma lists in Theatre 9, plus regional analgesia for patients in the emergency department with rib and hip fractures.
• Ambulatory surgery. Day-case orthopaedic trauma and plastic surgery lists, and helping to develop new regional anaesthesia pathways as the Surgical Hub expands.
• Acute pain service. Daily inpatient reviews with the pain nursing team and the Inpatient Trauma Service, including analgesia for hip fractures and chest wall injuries, and continuous catheter techniques.

The trauma lists see over 3,500 orthopaedic and over 2,000 plastic surgery cases a year. Supervision is tailored to each fellow, building towards supported semi-independent practice within two to four months.

Clinical and academic tracks

All five fellows share the same clinical work, supervision and mentoring. Once appointed, fellows can apply for one of two academic track places.

• Clinical track. Non-clinical time is built into each week. Fellows complete at least two linked quality improvement projects, each leading one of three programmes: hip fracture anaesthesia and analgesia, acute postoperative pain, or ambulatory regional anaesthesia pathways. Research is welcome, but there is no protected research time.
• Academic track. Half the post is protected, salaried academic time, with a mentor in the UCC Professorial Department of Anaesthesia. Fellows complete at least two linked original research projects, aiming for conference abstracts and journal publications. An MSc, MD or PhD through UCC is encouraged but not required.

To apply for the academic track, submit a research plan to the programme director at least six weeks before your start date. If more than two fellows apply, places are decided by interview.

Teaching and mentoring

• Mentoring. Each fellow has a named supervisor and clinical mentors, a two-hour group mentoring session every Friday afternoon, and appraisals at the start, at three, six and nine months, and at the end of the year.
• Teaching. Fellows share three hours a week of UCC undergraduate teaching, with one fellow leading the programme, and teach on postgraduate courses including the ISRA Foundation Course. As their skills develop, they also supervise other doctors in training.
• University role. Fellows are encouraged to apply for a one-year UCC Adjunct Clinical Lecturer post.

Working pattern

Weekday hours average about 40 a week, with non-clinical time built in. Fellows also cover daytime weekend trauma lists, currently one weekend in five, paid as overtime. There is no requirement to join the department's on-call rota.

How to apply

Applications are welcome from anaesthetists in their final year of specialist training and from those who have completed it. Interviews are held twice a year, for July and January starts. CUH also takes visiting overseas fellows, with numbers varying from year to year.

For details of the next intake, or for the full job description and training curriculum, email Dr Fahd Aamir.

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