Emerging responsibilities of the anaesthesiologist in competency-based undergraduate medical education.

The competency-based medical education (CBME) curriculum for undergraduate medical education recently rolled out by the regulating body gives the much-needed importance to the subject of Anaesthesiology, which in the earlier traditional curriculum was unappreciated. The contributions of the Anaesthesiology faculty to the new curriculum include the conduct of basic life support sessions in the foundation course followed by the teaching of 46 stand-alone, subject-specific topics and 17 integrated topics in the next 54 months. The anaesthesiologists will play a vital role in sensitising the 1st-year students to the hospital environment during early clinical exposure sessions by facilitating their visits to operation theatres and critical care areas. Anaesthesiologists are the leaders in the establishment and maintenance of the skill laboratories and in imparting simulation-based training for teaching crisis management, patient management in pandemics and lifesaving skills; nevertheless, there is a definite scope for further enhancement of the anaesthesiologist's role in the CBME.

Introduction of evidence-based medicine in undergraduate medical curriculum for development of professional competencies in medical students.

PURPOSE OF REVIEW: Current undergraduate medical curricula in most institutions around the globe do not nurture the skills, needed for self-directed lifelong learning in medical graduates, and it needs to be reformed in such a way that the medical graduate who is trained through this reformed curriculum, possesses all the competencies of a self-directed learner. Evidence-based medicine (EBM), a new vision of physician learning which is based on continuous development and assessment of competencies needed for creating self-directed learners is to be strongly advocated for inclusion in the undergraduate medical curriculum. RECENT FINDINGS: Clinical teaching opportunities which are available while treating patients, in outpatient clinic, operating room, and by the bedside need to be utilized to teach EBM. Medical curricula, both undergraduate and postgraduate, should incorporate both EBM and quality improvement training, and these should be taught in a holistic fashion. Evidence-based practice competency was shown to increase, regardless of whether evidence-based practice is delivered to medical students at an undergraduate or postgraduate level.Early introduction of EBM in the undergraduate medical curriculum, in the form of a short course, using various modes of instruction, enhances the competence of critical thinking and also influences change in attitude towards EBM positively in medical students. SUMMARY: Introduction of EBM in undergraduate medical curriculum helps in the development of professional competencies of self-directed learners in medical students.