Currently, no well accepted and clearly defined 'core' curriculum for under
graduate anaesthesia. teaching exists. To address this deficiency, we surve
yed 73 university departments of anaesthesia and intensive care. Sixty-five
replied from South-east Asia (12), Australasia (13), the UK and Ireland (2
8) and Canada (12). A questionnaire containing 37 items ranging from depart
mental structure to curriculum content was used. We found significant regio
nal differences. Overall, most departments taught pharmacology of anaesthet
ic drugs (83%), pre-operative assessment (92%) and care of the unconscious
patient (77%). Ninety-seven per cent taught airway management and intubatio
n and 80% taught intravenous cannulation. Basic life support was taught by
97% and advanced life support by 71%. Fewer than half taught advanced traum
a life support principles (44%). Critical care teaching was less well defin
ed, but a consensus of schools taught respiratory failure and ventilation,
management of circulatory shock and principles of sepsis and multi-organ sy
stem failure. Practical clinical skills were taught mainly using patients a
nd simulators, 46% had a skills laboratory and six employed a resuscitation
officer. However, it should be noted that we did not assess the quality an
d outcome of teaching.