The UCT Surgical Society runs a shadow programme which gives students the opportunity to shadow surgeons in some of the top hospitals in the country. In 2016, society members were able to shadow surgeons at Groote Schuur Hospital and Red Cross War Memorial Children’s Hospital. The programme is run in the April, June, and September vacations and gives students the opportunity to shadow surgeons in all of the different surgical specialties. This programme is mostly aimed at preclinical students as it can be quite inspiring to them to see the relevance of the anatomy and physiology that they learning. Medical students also often land up knowing the type of content they will have to grasp when choosing a specialty but often don't know much about the careers of each of the different surgical disciplines. This programme provides students (both medical and those in other fields) the opportunity to explore a surgical discipline in ways that they often would not otherwise have to opportunity to do.
