Analysis of operating theatre utilisation to drive efficiency and productivity improvements.

There is an urgent need in the acute health system to use resources as efficiently as possible. One such group of resources are operating theatres, which have an important impact on patient flow through a hospital. Data-driven insights into the use of operating theatres can suggest improvements to minimise wastage and improve theatre availability.

Educational support for specialist international medical graduates in anaesthesia.

Objective: To measure specialist international medical graduates' (SIMGs) level of learning through participation in guided tutorials, face-to-face or through videoconferencing (VC), and the effect of tutorial attendance and quality of participation on success in specialist college examinations.

Design And Setting: Tutorials were conducted at the Royal Brisbane and Women's Hospital between 19 September 2007 and 23 August 2010, and delivered through VC to participants at other locations. Tutorials were recorded and transcribed, and speaker contributions were tagged and ranked using content analysis software.

Workforce education issues for international medical graduate specialists in anaesthesia.

International medical graduate (IMG) specialists in anaesthesia need education to be part of the assessment process for pre-registration college fellowship. Fellowship of the anaesthetic college is required in Australia for registration as a specialist in this field. Marked differences exist between local trainees and IMG specialists in terms of training, stakes of the exam and isolation of practice.