The aim of the Workshops Portfolio is to introduce preclinical and clinical students to different fields and aspects of surgery by allowing them to actively engage in activities and events which many pre-clinical students would not normally access to, this gives them invaluable exposure to basic surgical skills techniques and clinically relevant anatomy – with a specific focus on surgical procedures. Being the main “hands on” portfolio in Surgical Society, workshops play a key role in developing and mentoring aspiring surgeons.
Within Surgical Skills this year we hosted a few basic introductory surgical skills workshops aimed at students in the younger years of MBChB, teaching basic suturing skills and surgical knot tying.
Due to COVID-19 lockdown regulations in South Africa, many of our previously planned workshops have had to be postponed, such as our laparoscopic suturing workshop. For the remainder of the year, we have more advanced skills workshops planned, which cater to clinical year students; these will include bowel anastomoses, vascular graft, and other advanced suturing techniques.
We have also hosted multiple anatomy workshops with surgical lecturers, including a cardiothoracic anatomy workshop with guided individual dissection of the heart as well as a laparoscopic abdominal anatomy workshop – with a surgical insight into common procedures such as cholecystectomy and appendectomy.
The future for the workshop’s portfolio is limitless as surgery and surgical education evolves every year. Hence, there are always new instruments and techniques to add to the workshop’s repertoire - even venturing into robotics in surgery. As a portfolio we are grateful to have incredible support from both the UCT Department of Surgery and the Surgical Skills Centre at Red Cross Children’s Hospital. Thus, we plan to host as many surgical skills and anatomy workshops as possible this year to provide all our members with the opportunity to access world-class practical teaching and surgical exposure.