The multi-authored text, Comprehensive Guide to Education in Anesthesia, takes the reader on a journey, from the roots of academic anesthesia to a place of global and community outreach. It pauses along the route to elaborate on the educational issues and challenges involved in training an anesthesiologist.

The book’s focus is on the American system, beginning with the role of the Accreditation Council for Graduate Medical Education and following with chapters devoted to the essential ingredients of residency and fellowship programs that lead the trainee to board certification. The four-part process of Maintenance of Certification in Anesthesiology is outlined in detail. In the context of continuing medical education, formats supporting life-long learning acceptable for American Council of Continuing Medical Education credit are mentioned, with emphasis on the specific role of simulation and case evaluation in anesthesia training and clinical practice.

Chapters of a more general nature include topics on teaching practices, mentorship, evaluation, and feedback. The Mentorship in Anesthesia chapter is particularly interesting and well referenced. The reader is introduced to historical and modern-day concepts of mentoring, characteristics of successful mentors in medicine, and methods to measure the effectiveness of mentorship programs. The chapter concludes with a discussion of barriers and opportunities to establishing a mentorship program.

Preparing learners for roles in anesthesia beyond the traditional boundaries of the operating room, intensive care unit, and clinics is covered in the chapters entitled, “The Place of Global Education in Anesthesia” and “Community Outreach”. The only Canadian author in the list of contributors wrote the former, drawing on examples of global health initiatives/electives ongoing throughout the Commonwealth and the United States to review the benefits and challenges of providing this type of exposure to trainees, clinicians, and the patients and countries they are serving.

The editor points out in the Preface that “educators from many different aspects of anesthesia … review current practice of learning in our specialty”. Herein lies the challenge for the reader. Although the title of the book implies a focus on education in anesthesia, generally held educational precepts such as imparting or acquiring particular knowledge, developing judgment and reasoning abilities, and preparing for an academic life are not necessarily the focus of the chapters’ content. For example, Chapters 3 and 18 define the “how to” processes of critical incident review and identification of substance abuse in anesthesia care providers using case examples. They fall short, however, of tying the activity to pedagogical principles or the discipline of education.

Who might be the audience for this book? The subject matter is unlikely to appeal to junior faculty, who are temporally close to their training experience, or to faculty who practice in established academic settings. Rather, the content could appeal to practitioners who are new to the American system of anesthesia education and are looking for a synopsis of the anesthesia-training continuum – from medical student to seasoned practitioner engaged in lifelong learning. Also, the book contents may be helpful in circumstances, and in developing countries, where educators are looking for examples to guide the establishment of new anesthesia-training programs. Taken in their entirety, the topics selected for review offer readers an opportunity to gain insight into the widespread scope of education in the field of anesthesiology.