SPACIES Lecture Series
Educational Resources in High Demand: SPACIES Lecture Series Reaches 70+ Countries in Six Months
By J. Matthew Kynes, MD
Vanderbilt University, Nashville
and Grace Hsu, MD
Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia, Philadelphia
The SPA Committee for International Education and Service (SPACIES) is committed to improving pediatric anesthesia care worldwide and started the SPACIES Lecture Series several years ago to improve access to educational resources in pediatric anesthesia. As one of the only freely available collections of lectures specific to pediatric anesthesia, this series is a valuable resource for many providers both in and outside of the United States. Lectures are submitted by SPA members and undergo a process of peer review for content quality and applicability to its target audience of providers in low-resource settings. Currently, the site contains 18 lectures covering basic and specialized principles in pediatric anesthesia with new topics being added regularly.
SPACIES exists to help reduce the significant deficiencies in anesthesia workforce worldwide as evidenced by a recent global survey showing a near 90-fold difference in numbers of anesthesia providers in low-income compared to high-income countries [WFSA workforce survey 2017]. These deficiencies contribute to the severe access limitations in surgery worldwide, with an estimated 5 billion people unable to obtain necessary surgical services [Lancet 2015], as well as concerns about the quality of anesthesia care in many settings. Although the problem is multifactorial, one strategy to improving both the numbers and quality of anesthesia providers in low-resource settings is to improve access to educational resources. Although web-based resources in anesthesia have increased in popularity, options targeted toward low-resource settings are limited.
In June 2017 the Lecture Series launched a revised site enabling easier access to lectures particularly for non-SPA members. After completing a brief survey, users are able to download as many lectures as they would like at no charge. Data collected within the first six months after site revision revealed that lectures had been accessed by 805 users, a rate of over 30 per week. Users represented 74 countries, of which 58% were classified as low- and middle-income (LMIC). Two-thirds of users were attending or consultant anesthesiologists, although users from low-resource settings were more likely to be residents. LMIC users were also more likely to access the lectures primarily for teaching purposes (58.6% of LMIC users vs 40.3% from high-income countries) rather than for their own learning, a result possibly related to the limitations in quality educational resources in these settings.
These early results on the new SPACIES Lecture Series site indicate that there is a high global demand for accessible, quality resources in pediatric anesthesia. In the future, the series will continue to add topics in a variety of formats and languages to expand its value as an educational resource. As experts in the care of children undergoing surgery the SPA members who have contributed to this series are having a tremendous impact on anesthesia care worldwide. Although great challenges still exist, efforts like this provide an opportunity to move closer to the goal of providing safe and accessible anesthesia care worldwide.
The Lecture Series can be accessed at spacies.pedsanesthesia.org. SPACIES welcomes additional submissions to the Series—if you would like to contribute, please contact spacies.library@gmail.com with your name, title and institution.
