All courses

Safer Anaesthesia From Education (SAFE)

Improving the safety of anaesthesia care in resource-limited settings

Safer Anaesthesia From Education (SAFE) is a joint programme of the Association of Anaesthetists and the World Federation of Societies of Anaesthesiologists (WFSA), developed in 2011. SAFE equips anaesthesia providers with the essential knowledge and skills to deliver vigilant, competent and safe care to their patients, even in very low-resource settings, and builds a sustainable training model that can be embedded in national health systems.

The SAFE family includes face-to-face courses in Obstetrics, Paediatrics, Paediatrics-Cleft, Operating Room teamwork and Training of Trainers, delivered around the world by local and international faculty. This page is home to SAFE Online, the e-learning versions of the SAFE courses.

Since the first SAFE course in 2011, over 350 SAFE courses have been run in more than 54 countries, training over 11,000 participants and more than 1,700 trainers.

"The course was amazing. Previously, I saw these topics as minor issues, but this training has helped me understand their broader impacts on our work. Very productive and educative, it's already helping me improve OR practices with my colleagues."

SAFE Operating Room participant, Dar es Salaam, Tanzania

How the SAFE Online courses work

The courses below can be completed in two ways:

Open access: work through the course materials in your own time, as preparation for or revision after a face-to-face SAFE course.
Closed course: delivered to participants as a group, accompanied by online group discussion sessions.

Each course is made up of modules containing video lessons, clinical scenarios and an end-of-module quiz. Passing each quiz earns a module badge, and completing all modules earns the course certificate. The platform is mobile compatible, minimises data usage and supports offline learning through the Moodle app.

Interested in joining a group discussion? Register your interest at safe@wfsahq.org and discussions will be scheduled according to demand.

Stories from SAFE trainers

I have watched SAFE grow and grown with it, Dr Mary Nabukenya, Uganda
What SAFE means to me, Dr Jolene Moore, SAFE Program Lead, UK
SAFE Online, putting internationally renowned anaesthesia training at your fingertips, WFSA

Get involved

SAFE welcomes new faculty and applications for grant funding to run courses. See the Association of Anaesthetists funding pages or visit the WFSA SAFE training pages.

Participants on SAFE courses receive the SAFE Handbook: download the SAFE Pocket Handbook (PDF).