Current situation of pediatric anesthesiology training in Colombia

Abstract

Surgery is a key pillar in medical care, and both the surgical as well as the anesthetic components are essential within the health systems in countries of all levels of development. Every year, close to 230 million surgical procedures are performed worldwide, with pediatric surgery being representative, as around 85% of children require a surgical procedure. However, the issue of education and training of the people involved in pediatric surgery who can provide safe surgical and anesthetic care in medium and low income countries has been absent from the global health debate. The development of anesthesia in pediatrics faces many challenges: it is a relatively new specialty, it has to deal with clinical challenges associated with anatomical, physiological, psychological and procedure-related differences, while it faces the reality of few training opportunities which results in a limited number of duly trained and qualified specialists in pediatric anesthesiology. In Latin America, the possibility of applying to a specialization in pediatric anesthesia is limited. In particular in Colombia it has not been possible to establish a pediatric anesthesia subspecialty, creating the need to promote formal and informal training in this discipline in order to ensure that safe, good quality anesthetic care is provided to children. This article describes the development of pediatric anesthesia training in the world and in Colombia, highlighting the relationship between the incidence of anesthetic complications and the need for training in this discipline.