The Faculty of Surgical Trainers has unveiled an impressive programme of international speakers for its inaugural meeting in November

The Faculty of Surgical Trainers has been launched by the College to provide recognition and support for all those with an interest in surgical training. The Faculty has been running for the past year within Scotland as a pilot scheme. This period has been very successful. We have already attracted over 170 members to the Faculty, and our membership continues to grow.

Mark Baillie speaks to Mr Jeyaram Srinivasan about why he became one of the RCSEd’s first Regional Surgical Advisers

The RCSEd’s Regional Surgical Adviser (RSA) network has arguably been one of the biggest developments for the College in recent times. In just four years, the programme has grown quickly to over 50 RSAs representing the RCSEd in regions across the UK, bringing the College that bit closer to its members wherever they are based. But back in 2008, when Jeyaram Srinivasan signed up for the pilot programme, there was no certainty about how the trial would be received.

College representatives visited Sheffield in July for a regional forum at the Northern General Hospital’s Medical Education Centre

The latest cases from the Confidential Reporting System for Surgery

 

An appendix too far

 

An 18-year-old male with right iliac fossa pain was diagnosed with acute appendicitis and underwent lengthy laparoscopic appendicectomy, undertaken by a trainee with his consultant supervising but unscrubbed. Post-operatively the patient failed to improve clinically and developed fluctuating pyrexia. Ultrasound suggested the presence of a pelvic abscess and the patient returned to theatre for laparoscopic drainage. At laparoscopy, a mass was found in the right iliac fossa which proved difficult to dissect. The procedure was converted to midline laparotomy. At re-operation an indurated mass with an inflamed appendix was found at the ileocaecal junction. On this occasion appendicectomy was undertaken successfully.

Subsequent pathological examination of the previously resected “appendix” revealed a piece of mesenteric fat which had been mistaken for the appendix by the trainee and his mentor.