Education, Practice, and Competency Gaps of Anesthetists in Ethiopia: Task Analysis

Purpose: This study assessed the needs and gaps in the education, practice and competencies of anesthetists in Ethiopia. Design: A cross-sectional study design was used. Methods: A questionnaire consisting of 74 tasks was completed by 137 anesthetists who had been practicing for 6 months to 5 years. Findings: Over half of the respondents rated 72.9% of the tasks as being highly critical to patient outcomes, and reported that they performed 70.2% of all tasks at a high frequency. More than a quarter of respondents reported that they performed 15 of the tasks at a low frequency. Nine of the tasks rated as being highly critical were not learned during pre-service education by more than one-quarter of study participants, and over 10% of respondents reported that they were unable to perform five of the highly critical tasks. Conclusions: Anesthetists rated themselves as being adequately prepared to perform a majority of the tasks in their scope of practice.