Rapid Responses to:

LETTERS: Peter J Morris No time to train the surgeons: Royal College of Surgeons of England responds BMJ 2004; 328: 1133 [Full text]

Rapid Responses: Submit a response to this article

Rapid Responses published:

No time to train the surgeons

Tamer T kamal   (11 May 2004)

No time to train the surgeons 11 May 2004
Tamer T kamal, Senior house officer orthopaedics Royal devon and Exeter Foundation trust EX2 5DW Send response to journal: Re: No time to train the surgeons	It seems that everyone agrees that with the implementation of the new European working time legislation, surgical training will be greatly affected. Senior house officers are currently spending more and more time filling paper work than being in theatre. It is becoming very obvious that with more and more pressure applied by politicians on hospital staff about waiting lists this is also affecting surgical training as more and more consultants are trying to do as many operations as possible in the smallest amount of time instead of spending an extra 1/2 to 3/4 of an hour assisting his surgical trainee. It seems only fair that there should be a minimal amount of surgical interventions that should be done by every senior house officer in every job. For instance every house officer should during his surgical training perform supervised appendectomies or trachea-ostomies etc, and by the end of his rotation he should have performed all the set required basic procedures. I think this will provide a base line for surgical training from which we can work our way up. Competing interests: None declared