Core Surgical Training – Taking Control

This article was migrated. The article was marked as recommended. IntroductionToo often we look to others to improve or make changes to our training, but often, if as trainees we take responsibility for our training we can improve our own outcomes. This highlights a change I made to my rota and training to improve theatre and elective exposure for myself and future collaegues.MethodWe designed a traffic light system of safe junior medical staffing over an acute and elective site to highlight to the consultant body that elective learning opportunities were minimal. We then changed the rota to ensure core surgical trainee were able to have more elective theatre and clinic time and the foundation year 1 doctors were able to maximise their learning in the busy acute centreResultsPrior to the changes there were only 2 in 5 (40%) days where there was a green light, i.e allowing safe staffing on both sites and elective learning opportunities. Following the initiation of the new timetable this increased to 63%. We quantified the increase in training opportunities by measuring the amount of work based assessments logged per day before and after the changes. Following the changes there was an increase by a factor of 2.29 per day in the number of cases logged. ConclusionTaking control and initiating change is essential to ensuring we make the most of the time we have in placements. By recognising shortcomings in a rota or timetable and making simple changes we can increase the time spent in theatre and clinics.