I write to you to let you know of an opportunity to apply to be selected as a GASACT delegate to attend one of three international meetings being held in 2012: the Common Issues Group Annual Trainee Meetings, in Quebec Canada, Glasgow Scotland and Washington DC.

Find attached a flyer with further information: to apply, contact the ASA Secretariat (ozarb@asa.org.au): applications now open, closing date 27 February 2012.

We have eight new state representatives joining the rest of the GASACT committee and I would like to formally thank them for volunteering to join GASACT as trainee advocates and welcome them to the GASACT committee.

Congratulations to everyone who sat and passed Part 2 in Sydney recently. What a great achievement! Congratulations to everyone who has just been approved or about to be approved for their fellowship. Don’t forget, that if you are nearing the end of your training, you can submit your completion of fellowship paperwork application up to 4 weeks ahead of your expected completion date, it requires a letter from your current SoT to be emailed to the College so they can verify that you expect to have a job that will be ongoing to at least this date. Dates that College Council sit to potentially approve Fellowship applications are available ...

2011 GAT Conference

By Dr Robert Miskeljin, Federal Co-Chair and Senior Queensland Representative

The GAT Conference is a two and a half day event that ran from Wednesday, 29 June till Friday, 1 July. It is a specific trainee only event from the Association of Anaesthetists of Great Britain and Ireland (AAGBI) and it is rotated around the country each year. It is run as a separate conference to the AAGBI Annual Congress.

As 2011 draws ever so closer to a close, there’s no time to rest for the NSW GASACT members. By the time this newsletter is published, the NSW GASACT Part 3 Course would have been held on 26 November 2011. It is certainly promising to be an interesting and informative day whereby trainees can learn about being a consultant anaesthetist and some of the practicalities associated with this. The venue of the Sydney Harbour Marriot Hotel will certainly add to the ambience, and drinks to be hosted following the official program will allow trainees to catch up socially and exchange ideas emerging from the course.

The Part 3 course was held recently and was attended by about 30 senior trainees. The event appeared successful with well received talks and good feedback. The role played by this course increases as new opportunities for consultants within the public hospital system seem very limited within the greater Melbourne area. Congratulations to the numerous successful primary and fellowship exam candidates throughout the year.

Plans are well and truly in progress for the GASACT Trainee Congress at the 2012 ASA National Scientific Congress to be held in Hobart next year. Please put the dates in your diary now – Friday, 28 September to Tuesday, 2 October. There will be a trainee-specific lecture series, as well as social events and a luncheon with the opportunity to meet some of the 'bigwigs' in Anaesthesia. We are planning to hold a fellowship forum again during the conference ...

SA/NT recently hosted its Annual Trainee Dinner on 4 November 2011 at Chloe’s Restaurant, which was well attended and enjoyed by all. The dinner provides an excellent opportunity to promote the welfare of fellow trainees in a relaxed environment. Now in its second consecutive year, the dinner is planned to remain as a permanent event on the SA/NT calendar.

Hello to everyone and welcome to the final edition of the GASACT e-news for 2011. This happens to be not just the end of the calendar year but an additional few endings for both Dr Rob Miskeljin and I.

I attended the ASA National Scientific Congress in Sydney this year and represented WA at the GASACT meeting. It was a fantastic opportunity to meet a lot of the other state representatives and find out how the training program and GASACT runs in other states. Some good ideas were discussed that we will hopefully be able to incorporate into future GASACT events in WA over the coming years.

In the ACT we recently held our second GASACT movie night on Friday, 28 October. An intrepid group of GASACT members enjoyed the (finally!) warm spring weather, with drinks before, dinner after, and a good time along the way. We saw Contagion, which was enjoyed by all, and also generally considered as plausibly frightening (except for some technological details).