“It was a wonderful experience teaching the future anaesthesiologists. As a teacher, you also need to update your knowledge, read, stay with the new doctors and put them through, as well as correct them. You also want to be careful not to be discouraging. It is great to see those who came with zero knowledge of anaesthesia become confident providers and working independently within 6 months. Our program is immersive. Sometimes in our morning reviews, they ask interesting questions that challenge us to go back and read! Our knowledge base keeps increasing, and our interactions are great. I am challenged to do more because various stakeholders are interested in our programme. It is amazing what we can achieve in few months. Work-based, brain-based learning is worthwhile.

“Coming from a surgical background, I did not expect anaesthesia to be this interesting. It brought a whole new challenge and looking back, I can say it made me more confident. Training in this hospital (FMC, Abuja) is adequate because of the attention received from the consultants who were always on ground. Thanks to the team for the support. We are better respected than when we started the programme. The qualification (the Diploma in Anaesthesia) is like a stamp to all the learning we have done and the intensive training.

“When we saw the volume of work, it was challenging at first but with time, we started understanding many things. In this hospital, we were exposed to the practical aspect early which gave us more confidence. The trainers - they are like our friends…you can talk to them, and they are there to guide you. The training afforded us the opportunity to understand teamwork better. Some of us realised our strengths and our deficiency. We were able to put everything together to make the best.”

“Anaesthesia has been really interesting. The knowledge of anaesthesia is broad; it makes you know a little about everything. And then your confidence level as a doctor definitely comes up and you are not like when you are just a medical officer. Our trainers were interested in us beyond the training…They were more like big brothers; they infused teaching with jokes in between and that made everybody to relax. Concerning the community spirit, everybody (the whole team at FMC, Abuja) was following you up and making sure you study.