Cairns et al provide a robust argument against the EWTD. There is no
doubt that surgical training has become a shadow of its former self.
As an ex-surgical trainee and member of the Royal College of
Surgeons, I became increasingly frustrated with the relentlessly slow
learning curve which is now the norm. There just simply isn't enough
"cutting time" for juniors. A week of night shifts is often spent
clerking patients, in order for someone else to operate on them during the
day.
The result is that surgical registrars are now the equivalent of an
SHO from, say, the 1980s and a newly appointed consultant surgeon has
about as much experience as a junior registrar of old.
Of the 8 surgical SHOs on the rotation at a good DGH, one has left to
pursue a career in finance and six others (including me) have left to
receive better training...in general practice.
Rapid Response:
The demise of surgical training
Cairns et al provide a robust argument against the EWTD. There is no
doubt that surgical training has become a shadow of its former self.
As an ex-surgical trainee and member of the Royal College of
Surgeons, I became increasingly frustrated with the relentlessly slow
learning curve which is now the norm. There just simply isn't enough
"cutting time" for juniors. A week of night shifts is often spent
clerking patients, in order for someone else to operate on them during the
day.
The result is that surgical registrars are now the equivalent of an
SHO from, say, the 1980s and a newly appointed consultant surgeon has
about as much experience as a junior registrar of old.
Of the 8 surgical SHOs on the rotation at a good DGH, one has left to
pursue a career in finance and six others (including me) have left to
receive better training...in general practice.
Competing interests:
None declared
Competing interests: No competing interests