SCTS Bulletin Issue 11

Page 22

the 22 bulletin

SCTS INSINC Medical Student Committee - What we have achieved in year one Kirstie Kirkley, Josh Brown, Amelia Websdale, Holly Dejsupa – on behalf of the Student Committee, led by Ms K Booth & Prof F Bhatti

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ince its creation at the end of April, the inaugural SCTS Student Committee has been working hard to develop new and engaging opportunities for medical students and sixth formers to gain experience within cardiothoracic surgery. The name INSINC summarises our committee’s goal of “INspiring Students IN Cardiothoracic surgery”. Following the success of the first virtual Student Engagement Day, where students from across the world joined to be inspired by amazing speakers, the committee has been keen to address crucial aims such as mentorship, exposure to surgical subspecialties and nurturing the enthusiasm of aspiring surgeons. Here are some of the things we’ve achieved so far.

The Cardiothoracic Surgery Hub and Boost of Social Media – Holly Dejsupa & Josh Brown We have been gathering all medical schools in the UK and Ireland on a central Facebook page as part of an initiative designed to aid interconnectivity and improve communication between the Student Committee and its members. Whilst still growing, it now hosts almost every surgical, cardiology and cardiothoracic society from across the country, promoting collaborative working, allowing event publicity, and easing the process of networking between students. Improving our social media presence has been essential to promoting both the SCTS and work of the Student Committee, as such we have worked hard to increase our combined audience to almost 1000 students. This will be crucial in facilitating the accessibility of information for our members and removing some of the barriers to opportunity students often face.

Surgeon of the Month – Kirstie Kirkley and Amelia Websdale ‘Surgeon of the Month’ is an interview series introduced in September, with the aim of creating overarching mentorship and helping students find surgeons within the field they can identify with. So far, we have interviewed Mr

Simon Kendall and Prof Farah Bhatti OBE, offering insight into the thoughts and careers of pivotal members of the cardiothoracic community. By interviewing surgeons from a range of demographics, and covering topics from research to leadership and beyond, we hope to answer questions students may not get the opportunity to ask and promote relatable role models that inspire future cardiothoracic surgeons. Our interviews can be found in the SCTS news and on our social media pages.

‘How To ...’ Series With the aim of addressing common practical challenges students encounter, this informal series hopes to offer practical advice on topics such as ‘getting into medical school’, ‘planning a cardiothoracic elective’ and ‘get the most out of being in theatre’. This will be widely available on the ‘Student’ tab of the SCTS website with the interactive option to submit suggestions for other topics that may be helpful.

SCTS Annual Student Engagement Day

Mentorship Scheme

Our biggest project over the last few months has been the organisation of the face-to-face Student Engagement Conference, which this year was hosted in Leeds on Saturday 27th November. With a theme of ‘Pioneering in Cardiothoracic Surgery’, the event had a jam-packed morning of specialty-wide talks and an exclusive patient interview, followed by an afternoon of workshops tailored to both medical students and sixth formers. After the close competition at the Student Conference in May, we’re excited to see students once again go head-to-head for the prize in the Cardiothoracic University Challenge.

Recognising the importance of personalised guidance and support in maintaining students’ enthusiasm for the specialty, we are working hard to create a mentorship team that caters for both sixth-formers and medical students. We hope to open applications for surgeons to become mentors very soon and will subsequently match these with small groups of mentees according to location, demographic and career interests.

Upcoming schemes:

Cardiothoracic Teaching Series A student-led, student-focussed educational lecture series, focussing on cardiothoracic topics that students may not gain exposure to during their time at medical school. Whilst benefiting students’ revision, we hope it will better prepare attendees for the complex situations encountered as junior doctors and improve their understanding of common surgical procedures – equipping them to get the most from any clinical experiences.

Journal Club We are creating a monthly book/journal club where students can come together to hone their critical appraisal skills, keep up-to-date with breakthroughs in the field and explore their own academic interests.

Diversity Survey Soon to be distributed, we are developing a survey on diversity and inclusivity to allow us to gain some insight into areas requiring improvement, particularly at a medical student level. This will not only better our understanding of what students require from mentors but help find solutions to the loss of aspiring cardiothoracic surgeons at a student level.

Belfast Annual Meeting Finally, as a committee, we are looking forward to the Annual Meeting in Belfast and have begun working closely with the SCTS to develop and host the Student Day, learning from any experiences gained from the conference in Leeds. You can keep up-to-date with our exciting projects and latest news on Instagram and Twitter @SCTSINSINC, or ‘SCTS Students’ on Facebook. n


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Articles inside

Crossword, Sudoku, Quick Crossword

2min
pages 78-80

My Medical School Elective During the COVID-19 Pandemic Hanad Ahmed

5min
pages 72-73

Gaudeamus igitu – The Student Song

1min
page 76

Marian Ionescu Student Fellowship in Congenital Cardiac Surgery, Leeds Teaching

4min
page 71

SCTS Ionescu Medical Student Fellowship 2019 – Congenital Cardiac Surgery Alder Hey Hospital, Liverpool

3min
page 70

SCTS Ionescu Final Medical Student Fellowship 2021 Award George Liu

1min
page 69

SCTS Ionescu – NTN Travelling Fellowship – The Barts Experience Tom Combellack

3min
page 67

Final Ionescu Fellowships 2021 Carol Tan

3min
page 64

SCTS Ionescu FY Fellowship Jason Trevis

3min
page 65

Innovation is in the air Hazem Fallouh

5min
pages 60-61

The Oath of Hippocrates

1min
pages 62-63

Importance of student mentorship in cardiothoracic surgery Denis Ajdarpasic

5min
pages 58-59

Setting up a new service in a COVID crisis; a challenging task at the outset of new

4min
pages 54-55

Introductory guide for ST1 training to be

1min
pages 56-57

Improving decision-making and sharing of information in aortic disease for patients and clinicians: the DECIDE-TAD initiative

5min
pages 52-53

Robotic cardiothoracic surgery

4min
page 50

Cardiothoracic training programmes in Europe – a mixed bag Miia Lehtinen

3min
page 51

East Midlands simulation training day for cardiothoracic trainees

2min
page 44

A thoracic specialist physiotherapist’s reflection of redeployment during the COVID-19 pandemic Michelle Gibb

6min
pages 46-47

Maximising the FY2 Cardiothoracic

3min
page 45

Aortic Dissection Awareness Day UK 2021

4min
pages 42-43

SCTS Ionescu Traveling Fellowship – Early Thoughts on the Cleveland Clinic Way

5min
pages 40-41

Rise and Bike – Enhances work life stability

3min
page 38

A call for reflection, together

5min
pages 36-37

The journey of a thousand miles starts with a

5min
pages 28-29

Only for one stitch Anupama Barua

5min
page 35

Annual meeting 2021 Daisy Sandeman

6min
pages 10-12

From the President Simon Kendall

3min
page 6

From the Editor Indu Deglurkar

3min
page 5

Cardiothoracic Interdisciplinary Research

4min
pages 18-19

SCTS Education Report

5min
pages 26-27

Cardiothoracic Audit Update Doug West

4min
pages 14-15

SCTS INSINC Medical Student Committee – What we have achieved in year one Kirstie

4min
pages 22-23

SCTS Transplant Education Lead Report

3min
page 20

Update from SAC Marjan Jahangiri

2min
page 13
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