February Journal Club

Firstly, congrats to everyone who has finished CST interviews. Its not to much longer before you find out the good news (fingers crossed). Anyway, I have decided to choose a systematic review on Negative pressure wound therapy ("Vac dressings") for this month's journal club. I find this subject incredibly interesting and have been working on a review of my own after being inspired by Dr Paul Liu who was the Chief of Plastics at Rhode Island Hospital where I did my placement last summer. As always, the article details are below and I will put up my comments in the next few days. I would be interested in what every one else thinks.

J Plast Reconstr Aesthet Surg. 2012 Jan 9. [Epub ahead of print]

The methodology of negative pressure wound therapy: Separating fact from fiction.

Glass GE, Nanchahal J.

Core Surgery Applications - Part I (the form)

So, most people will be finishing off their forms by now and I thought I'd thrown in a few last minute tips on completing your applications.

1) Firstly, brevity is essential! Most of the questions are limited to 65 words!! Ensure every word counts but write in clear and concise sentences. Bullet points look scruffy and unprofessional. You do not have space to list every achievement so highlight the most impressive and quickly mention the others.

2) Be honest. Whilst its important to "big up" your achievements, lying will only hurt your chances at interview as they can be very thorough with questioning. Also this is a probity issue and can lead to referral to the GMC.

3) Teaching is a very important part of being a surgeon. Don't just list your teaching experiences. If you have organised teaching then explain this, mention any feedback you have received and any plans you have to build on your experiences. Also, if you have had any training or attended a course to help with teaching then also state this.

4) Audits. Be honest and explain how you contributed to each audit. Also, whether outcomes were implemented and if re-audit has been done (state this as that's key to finishing the audit loop). If the audit has been presented or published then state this too. If you have done tons of audits then state how many and highlight a few examples rather than listing everything.

5) Commitment to speciality. This is very personal and I think you need to show how long you have been interested in the speciality and how you have explored it further. Mention electives, courses, placements, research, if you have sat any exams etc...

Anyway, I know this is brief but just wanted to give a few ideas out there. Please note, I am only posting my opinion but I do not know what the Deaneries are looking for and how they mark these questions. This is just advise based on experience of having applied last year and as such should not be taken as anything more than this. I do not accept any liability for any unsuccessful applications (sorry).

Good luck!!!

Amel

Hand Surgery and so much more!

For anyone interested in hand surgery and/or working in developing countries and/or anatomy and/or art:

www.donaldsammut.com

I went to a talk he gave at the RSM on tuesday and it left me very impressed and inspired. In fact the whole evening was a great start to the Plastics section.

Journal Club - November

Hi all,

I was very impressed by the response to the first journal club paper. This month, I have chosen a paper that is very clinically relevant and addresses a common problem but management is often fraught with controversy. So this month's paper is:

J Bone Joint Surg Br. 2011 Oct;93(10):1362-6.

The non-operative functional management of patients with a rupture of the tendo Achillis leads to low rates of re-rupture.

Wallace RG, Heyes GJ, Michael AL.

I will pot my assessment in a few days time and would appreciate any input from you guys. Also if you would like to suggest any papers for next month, please go ahead! I would welcome input. FINALLY, I shall be putting up some posts on core training applications soon as well as more MRCS advice...

There and back again (almost)

Ok so massive hiatus from the blog and website, I know and I apologise profusely. Its not that IWTBAS is not a huge priority for me, but I have had a lot of work to clear. So now that I managed to get into Core Surgery in London, passed USMLE Step 1 (and revising for 2CK), finished a Plastic Surgery Observership in the USA, completed 3 audits, implemented a DVT pathway at West Middlesex University hospital, written two case reports and finished off a meta-analysis, I am READY to get back to what's important! I will be regularly updating this blog and finishing www.iwanttobeasurgeon.com. So as a treat, the next post will contain some old stations from friends who sat the exam a couple of years ago and I will also scribble a few words on Core Surgery applications. Again, let me know what you would like to see more of in this blog and also on the site. Amel

Application form

In general, most application form for all the specialties are similar. ACF application form consisted of
1. Listing academic achievements
2. Courses
3. A brief paragraph on audits.
4. Brief paragraph on teaching experience.
5. Brief description about my research projects, and then the next question asked to write in detail about one of the mentioned research projects.
6. Brief description about why I wanted an academic job.
7. Brief paragraph on my commitment to the specialty I am applying for.
8. Extracurricular activities


However, in my interview, I was asked to talk I'm detail about my academic achievements, research projects, and my interest in academia. There is not much emphasis on audits, however it is advisable to have one completed cycle as it is essential to be shortlisted for an interview.

I was lucky enough to have worked in a reputable hospital during my F1 year and with my interest in surgery and research, I was able to undertake a few research projects. Although it was very hard work, during my F1 year I was able to successfully pass MRCS part A exam, nationally present my research project as first author, as well as publish 3 papers (2as first author, and the second as 2nd author). Furthermore, I am in the process of writing 2 further papers for publication.

My advice for aspiring surgeons and academics would be to start early. It requires a lot of hard work, but show your enthusiasm to the consultants in your hospitals, and you will have opportunities to undertake useful projects which will help boost your CV to be successful in your choice of job.

Next post will be about setting up portfolios in preparation for interviews.

Contact me by email iwanttobeasurgeon@gmail.com for further information, or via this blog, and I will aim to answer any queries as soon as I can.

Romesh

MRCS approaches

The spectre of MRCS looms ever closer and we will be blogging regular posts to help with preparation. Ideally, you should have started thinking about revisng for Part A by now as the exam's in April. Revision tips and advice will be published by Mr T very soon. From experience, I found that there are a few things that were vital in my passing the exam:

1) Anatomy revision: REVISE REVISE REVISE anatomy as the first paper has anatomy & Physiology only. I really liked "Instant Anatomy" (little orange book) as it was concise, split into logical chapters and had diagrams that were easy to memorise.

2) "Basic Sciences for the MRCS" by Rafftery is invaluable for learning physiology and if you want to brush on some pathology. The anatomy section is a little weak (as I unwittingly told the author whilst I was awaiting to sit the second paper and really didn't stop to think why someone who looked quite senior would ask what I thought of the book!!!) but you can't have everything. If you're good at learning anatomy from text rather than need viusal aids (as I do) then the anatomy sections will do very nicely for you. One thing to make note of is that although dry, make note of the little details like paths of major nerves and embryonic development as they do come up in the exam.

3) PASTEST question bank all the way! Honestly, I'm not being paid/sponsored by them before the accusations start flying but those questions were life savers. I did not revise any pathology as that was my strong point and I wanted to focus on anatomy and physiology which I was dire in. I did every single question on the database and the pathology was spot on! Its the exact same level and many of the exam questions were very similar.  Also make sure you dont just do EMQ/SBAs as although the exam is in that format, T/F questions will test your knowledge to a higher detail and all practise is useful to building knowledge. The anatomy and physiology questons were also very useful but you definitely need to revise these to a bit more detail for the exam.

4) Try to get a few days off as zeros/annual leave around the exam if at all possible so that you can touch up on areas of weakness.

Anyway, that's it for now. Watch this space for more MRCS Part A and B information from all of us.

Amel

Hello and welcome

We are two junior doctors who want to pursue a career in surgery. We've all sat sat MRCS Part A and studying for part B. One of the things we have found going through medical school and our first year as doctors is that whilst there are many resources for revising surgery, few are free and even fewer offer a complete resource in terms of training, education and application for jobs. So, we decided to set up a website to help with these things and a blog to act as an up to date tool on current changes and developments in the world of surgery. We hope you enjoy the blog and website, please let us know if you think there is any way to make them better.

Amel and Romesh