Surgical training: the trainers' perspective

In our next episodes we will be taking a closer look at surgical training from the perspectives of both trainers and trainees. We’re starting with the trainers, and hosts Ravina Tanna and Tanya Ta are joined by an expert panel of senior ENT consultants, all heavily involved in surgical training around the UK.

Ann-Louise McDermott is a consultant paediatric ENT surgeon at Birmingham Children's Hospital. She has been on the Specialty Advisory Committee (SAC) for six years and the Otolaryngology SAC chair for the last year. She also sits on the Joint Committee on Intercollegiate Exams (JCIE) as the Royal College of Surgeons of Edinburgh (RCSEd) representative. She has been involved in national selection for many years.


Taran Tatla is an ENT head and neck surgeon working at London Northwest University Healthcare NHS Trust where he has been a consultant for 14 years. He has been a training program director for North Thames Deanery for ENT higher surgical training for the last four years and clinical research lead for his local clinical research network for the last 10 years.

Samit Ghosh is an ENT consultant at the Northern Care Alliance NHS Trust in Greater Manchester. Having previously been a head neck consultant he now specialises in rhinology and facial plastic surgery. He is the Training Programme Director for North West England and with Taran Tatla he sits on NAPDENT – the National Association of Program Directors in ENT. 

We start by discussing the huge impact the Covid-19 pandemic has had on surgical training. Much has been heard from the trainee side, but we were interested to hear the trainers’ view. Some ENT services have been disproportionately hit, whilst in other parts of the specialty exposure for trainees increased because of Covid, resulting in different challenges and opportunities for training.  Making up for trainees' missed experience requires flexibility and creativity in terms of workforce planning, as well as mentoring and support to build confidence. However, the legacy of the pandemic is not all bad with innovation and teamwork at a national level leading to a wealth of online educational material, as well as new approaches to delivering training and care which we can take forward. 

Ravina and Tanya take the opportunity to quiz our panel on the issue of national selection, looking at the pros and cons of the virtual format and the specific issues facing ENT in terms of workforce planning. The panel give us their own expert tips on navigating this complex process and achieving the best career outcomes. Planning and working towards your goals early is key! We also discuss run-through and core surgical training pathways and hear about promising reforms in these areas. It is reassuring for trainees to hear

WENTS & Friends is the official podcast for Women in ENT Surgery UK.
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Email: wents@entuk.org any questions or suggestions on topics you may have for future episodes.

Thank you to all of our guests for this season and to Karl Storz UK and the ENT UK Foundation for sponsoring season two of Went and Friends, the podcast of Women in ENT Surgery.

This season’s episodes are hosted by Alex Ashman. Produced and directed by Heather Pownall @heathershub of Heather's Media Hub Ltd. The podcast was created by Ekpemi Irune. The rest of the team includes Anna Slovick, Katherine Conroy, Marie Lyons, Tanya Ta, and Alex Ashman.

Chapters

• 0:32 Introduction to the topic and guests
• 2:57 Covid-19 – the trainers’ perspective
• 11:58 What do we need to make up for? What do you feel has really impacted trainees, and how can we improve things?
• 23:32 Mentoring / service provision versus training
• 31:25 National selection and workforce planning
• 31:43 Changes to ST3 national selection
• 40:38 Run-through training
• 46:18 Core surgical training
• 1:00:50 Support for those who don’t get the outcome they want; tips and advice from trainers
• 1:08:47 What’s next for ENT?