The journey of a thousand miles starts with a

The journey of a thousand miles starts with a single step

Sri Rathinam, SCTS Education Secretary

My journey with SCTS Education started with small steps and has grown over the last few years. I’m handing it over to capable hands and moving on to a different role.

It seems like yesterday that I went for the interview for the SCTS tutor position with lots of ideas and visions. I was very excited seeking new challenges having brought the ESTS meeting to the United Kingdom. The Tutor role was a remunerated position with The Royal College of Surgeons of England. SCTS decided to bring that role in house as an honorary position in 2013. I was successful and I was advised that I would have a partner to work with; a gentleman called Narain Moorjani, a cardiac surgeon from Papworth Hospital. We had never met before but it has transpired to be a great partnership and working relationship over the years.

SCTS Tutor

Narain and I were tasked by the Education secretaries, Mike Lewis and Rajesh Shah, to structure NTN education starting with the Boot Camp which was set up by Trainee representative, David McCormack. We set out to create a portfolio of 12 courses, which were integrated with the curriculum incorporating dry lab, wet labs, live animal operating, exam revision courses, nontechnical skills and professionalism and leadership. We were ambitious in wanting to offer these courses free for the trainees like the Boot Camp of 2012. We approached various companies seeking sponsorship whilst the senior officers felt this was a nonstarter. I still vividly remember the Johnson & Johnson national manager, Ross Campbell, showing interest and in further meetings which we had between Narain, Ross and I to firm up the plan. Ethicon committed to supporting the whole portfolio of the courses.

Narain and I created 12 courses including the learning objectives and the programmes and identified keen faculty members with 1:2 trainer/trainee ratio. In the first year, we were the course directors for all the courses and identified keen faculty members to take over as directors. We also worked with The Royal College of Surgeons of Edinburgh’s education department to advise and support us with educational modalities assessment and quality assurance.

To be honest, I felt sustainability and continuing the same level of commitment might not continue after a few years, as more specialties would want to replicate our model of the structured portfolio of simulation courses. Thanks to industry sponsors and partners, the portfolio is stable and if anything, expanding over the years.

Thanks to the commitment of the faculty and their motivation and a diligent collection of data and feedback we have generated award-winning abstracts to manuscripts in major peer reviewed journals with more in the pipeline. The role also had its challenges particularly pertaining to professionalism by the delegates and trainees resulting in us writing terms of reference to the trainees attending the SCTS Education courses.

We introduced the operative video prize and pursued many industry partners who contributed to the portfolio of courses.

As a surgeon who came to the United Kingdom from India, I have always felt the

challenges and needs for trust and locally appointed doctors and hence extended my support to create courses for the Trust appointed doctors and invited Maninder Kalkat to lead on them.

Education Secretary

Narain and I were appointed Education Secretaries in 2017 when Mike Lewis and Rajesh Shah moved to pastures new. We now had the responsibility of the total portfolio of SCTS Education from consultant to medical students. Narain moved to the Honorary Secretary’s position which meant I was a sole education secretary for a couple of years until Carol Tan joined me as co-education secretary.

The Education subcommittee had enthusiastic members who led and accomplished great things within their streams. The consultant stream introduced masterclasses preceding the SCTS meeting. We have established an SCTS consultant Academy for leadership. The AHP portfolio has constantly grown with courses and series of webinars and virtual learning during the Covid pandemic. The NTN portfolio has sustained itself and it has been very rewarding. We have bridged the gap between the NTNs and TADs by various measures of inviting them to courses which were previously not available to them.

Ionescu Collaboration

SCTS has had a great benefactor in Mr Marian Ionescu. I was requested to meet with Mr Ionescu and Mr Page. It was emphasised how important the collaboration was and he was a great contributor to our activities. It was also known he was a man known for his attention to detail and it was made clear that the meeting was very important. Imagine my situation when I realised I had left my passport at home and when I reached Luton Airport. Fortunately, a friend brought the passport so that I could make the journey in time. The meeting opened a new chapter for SCTS, it created various learning opportunities but most importantly, an abundance of fellowships to various members of SCTS. I do not think any other specialty anywhere in the world has offered so many fellowships to benefit its membership and thereby the patients. My sincere thanks to Mr Ionescu for his support and for allowing me to process all the fellowships. I’ve always enjoyed our meetings and exchanges as they have been quite illuminating.

Sri Rathinam, Narain Moorjani and Trainee rep David McCormack in the SCTS Bootcamp

A big Thank You

Success would not be possible without all the hard work of my fellow tutor and coeducation secretary, the stream leads and all the faculty members who have made this possible. I thank the SCTS Executive for the confidence in me and more importantly the freedom to execute things. Any organisation cannot succeed without administrative support. Letty Mitchell and Emma Piotrowski have been absolutely integral in the success of the programme. They have been ensuring all the administrative process as well as collecting diligent feedback. My sincere thanks to all our strategic industry partners who have helped us in the successful journey.

The team

Every journey has to come to an end and after eight years in SCTS Education, I have moved to the communications role. I am delighted that the journey has been enjoyable and successful and most importantly the team is left in the capable leadership of Miss Carol Tan and Miss Debbie Harrington. I am sure SCTS Education will go on to greater success in the years to come and give me more work to publicise this as communication secretary. n