Mersey School of Anaesthesia

Established in 1997, The Mersey School of Anaesthesia (MSA) is principally concerned with preparing Trainee Anaesthetists facing their Primary & Final FRCA Examinations. Originally held within a Charitable Trust Accounts at Liverpool Heart & Chest and Aintree Hospitals, it was advised by the Trust Account Managers that it should be moved and run as an independent Charitable Company. In 2012 the MSA registered with the Charity Commission (Reg. No. 1149165). Income is invested back into the Courses that the MSA run and at the end of each Financial Year, any surplus income is donated to Research, Education and Patient Care charities, these mostly of an anaesthetic texture in the UK or used to support Volunteer Anaesthetists in various Charitable Ventures Abroad. Overall, by the end of March 2021, the MSA has donated a total of over £900,000 to such concerns, all of it by reason of candidates’ subscriptions to our courses and classes allied to the full support of those Anaesthetists, who contribute as Faculties to those Courses without expectation of recompense. Here is a collage of some of the Donations/Funding Grants that have been made in recent years: HERE Its Motto & Objectives The Motto of the MSA is “If you Feed the Children with a Spoon, they will never Learn how to Use the Chopsticks” If you are a Trainee planning on attending MSA Courses, it is important that you must appreciate before you attend that the MSA never claim to provide teaching or distribute teaching materials on its Courses. You must not attend expecting to be taught. The Courses are designed for Exam Preparation and include; – Exposure to Exam Style Questions – Opportunities to Practice in as close to Exam Conditions as we can muster – Learn & Fine Tune Exam Techniques – Peer Learning The advice to Trainees is that they should attend MSA Courses only when they consider themselves adequately Prepared, in terms of knowledge, for the Imminent Examinations. The MSA’s emphatic advice regarding all the FRCA Examinations is that trainees should only sit these examinations when they feel that they Deserve to Pass. It has to be courting Disappointment to enter for these exams Hoping to Pass We also fully appreciate our methods do not suit everyone’s learning style, therefore, you must feel assured before attending that it will help you in your Exam Preparation and subsequently embrace the ‘gameplay’ we offer. We are very conscious of Trainee’s valuable time and want to make sure you make the best use of it. Not everyone finds the same approach useful. We are happy to answer any questions that you may have, but also advise you to speak to Colleagues who have been to MSA Courses in the past to ask them the questions: ‘Why they would recommend?’ and ‘How did the Course help them?’. Supporting Lifebox… The MSA also contributes to Lifebox, an international charity concerned with the improvement of Anaesthetic Services in underprivileged parts of the world where the mortality from General Anaesthesia can be unacceptably high due to a lack of suitable equipment or adequately trained personnel. To date this specific donation is over £35,000. You can find our recent donations HERE Supporting AquAid… We at the Mersey School of Anaesthesia are aware that keeping our Candidates hydrated will aid them to perform at their very best throughout the work day. In 2016, conscious of plastic pollution, the MSA stopped distributing Bottled Water to Candidates at Registration to the Courses. Instead, we invested in a couple of AquAid Water Coolers to be used on the Courses and asked Candidates to bring their own refillable bottle. With each purchase of a Water Cooler Refill Bottle an automatic donation has been made to the Africa Trust. We are delighted to be informed that, as a result, these funds have helped to build an ‘Elephant Pump’ in Africa to provide a much needed source of clean & fresh drinking water for many in the community. Thank you to AquAid for providing an excellent service and for giving us the opportunity to help those less fortunate than ourselves. Please consider AquAid when looking for a ‘Water Solution’ in your business or offices; we would highly recommend! To date [2021] AquAid have donated in excess of £16 million and helped bring a life-time supply of clean, fresh drinking water to more than 3.2 million people.