Could an electronic log-book be effective for medical training in anaesthesiology?

Editor, We read with interest the article by Kietaibl et al.1 entitled ‘Medical training in anaesthesiology’ recently published in the European Journal of Anaesthesiology. We agree with the authors that harmonising training courses in anaesthesiology across Europe is extremely important to create a common ground for professionals internationally to achieve a true equivalence of core competences, as defined by Epstein and Hundert.2 A critical aspect of the implementation of any training programme is monitoring the activities of trainees and their progress as these activities are an integral part of the training curriculum, especially in anaesthesiology where competencies and skills play a central role in the life of a professional.3–5 Keeping track of all the procedures the trainee has performed during the residency would be a unique opportunity for a real harmonisation of medical curricula as it would contribute to achieving a measurable, homogeneous level of competencies among professionals. We would like to share the experience our residency programme has developed with an electronic log-book where activities and procedures can be recorded daily as the trainee performs them.6,7 We introduced the electronic log-book as a tool to support the residents in keeping track of their progress towards reaching the year-specific training objectives. The main issue with the system is the users’ compliance and the rate at which the log-book is updated. In fact, we observed that the quality and accuracy of the data entered were increasing as updates were more frequent.7 This is why we believe that developing an application that can be installed by the resident on a smartphone is the key to achieving the optimal compliance with the advantage for the young professional to be able to quantitatively certify at a curriculum level the number of procedures they have so far completed. From the point of view of accountability, an electronic log-book could become a professional passport for anaesthesiologists to freely move within Europe. The content of this application could be shaped around the European Training Requirements to synergistically boost its effectiveness in ensuring a standard European level of training. This instrument could continue to be used also by specialists as a tool to measure objectively their experience, identify areas where extra training might be beneficial, give proof of their professional level in case of medical litigation and ultimately provide an advance on the job market at a European level and internationally.