The new National Trainees Committee of Greece

Georgios Karras
Trainee Representative
trainees-committee@esaic.org

The Hellenic Anaesthesiology Trainees Society (H.A.T.S.) has been proudly part of the ESAIC Trainee Network since 2017. Despite the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic, we aimed to establish an official connection with our European colleagues and within our National Society. These goals were also presented at the Euroanaesthesia 2020 Virtual Congress.

During the 24th National Congress of Greek Anaesthesiologists, the board of the Hellenic Society of Anaesthesiology embraced the idea of the past NTR, Anna Gkiouliava, and helped us organise our first online elections.

The recently established Hellenic Trainees Committee consists of 3 members: the new NTR Anastasios Antonogiannakis, the deputy NTR, Eleftheria Saoulidou, and member Georgios Karras. We are all motivated, young trainees who wish to promote scientific development and create a powerful network of Greek Trainees. The Committee is part of and supported by the Hellenic Society of Anaesthesiology, the National Society representing Greece within the ESAIC. The H.A.T.S. has direct communication with the National Society through our NTR and they represent us directly to all governmental bodies that they communicate with.

In the past years, after a long period of the financial crisis and the COVID-19 pandemic, the lack of anaesthesiologists in Greece has been amplified. This resulted in major issues in our daily practice of anaesthesia such as long working hours, extra shifts, and restriction of research and educational activities.

The support from the government has been limited but we aim high, and we aim to achieve the improvement of the Trainees’ well-being and professional development. We have already addressed a letter to the Ministry of Health, and after a nationwide open questionnaire among trainees, we will address again the unresolved issues, along with the National Society.

So far, with the coordinated actions of the Hellenic Society of Anaesthesiology, legislation was adjusted to promote young Anaesthesiologists entering the National Health System and an allowance was set for the upcoming year to motivate young doctors to choose our speciality.

Training for anaesthesiology in Greece lasts 5 years; at least 6 months of this period in an ICU. Also in 2022, the Greek government allowed physicians from other specialities to apply for anaesthesiology as a second speciality.

We have used the power of social media: we created a new Facebook Page and a new Instagram account, to be able to make announcements and keep in touch easily. We have also started a special private group of direct communication, with Trainee members, one from each group of hospitals. Each university or tertiary general hospital is leading a small group of nearby smaller hospitals, and this group covers all educational aspects. These different ways of communication will help us be always updated on the most important issues of the Hellenic Trainees.

We welcome you to our social media: facebook.com/Hellenic.trainees and instagram.com/Hellenic.trainees where we speak mostly Greek but will get back to you and find a way to keep in touch. We had a great start, and we managed to reach more than 4000 people in just 3 months and we gained 180 organic followers.

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