College has found strong demand for training programmes

BMJ 1996;312:1301-1302 (18 May)

Letters

College has found strong demand for training programmes

EDITOR,--As Chris Bulstrode and Gareth Holsgrove emphasise,consultant surgeons need to be educated in the principles andmethods of teaching while undertaking clinical work.¹ Indeed,it is important that they are educated in these principles andmethods so that they can apply them to any educational opportunityand thereby maximise the efficiency of their teaching.

At the Royal College of Surgeons of England we have been runninga "training the trainers" programme since May 1994 and havefound that there is a strong demand for our courses. The twoday course was initially designed for consultants who teachon various courses on practical skills, including minimal accessand basic surgical skills. We soon found, however, that we werereceiving requests from many other surgeons, whose main concernwas teaching juniors in the workplace. We therefore vary theemphasis of our courses to take account of the needs of theparticular . . . [Full text of this article]