Introductory guide for ST1 training to be

Introductory guide for ST1 training to be published

Devan Limbachia, Andrew Jones, Walid Mohamed, Duncan Steele, Abdul Badran

So you’ve achieved possibly your biggest life and career ambition to date, entering the national cardiothoracic surgery training programme – but what next?!

Training in the cardiothoracic surgery can be daunting, particularly for those who have not done previous placements in the specialty. There is often a discrepancy between deaneries over who takes responsibility for the now-exclusive ST1 entry trainees, be that Core Surgical Training or Cardiothoracic Surgery TPDs. Information and support for ST1 trainees is likewise variable across the UK, which emphasises the need for signposting trainees and networking with peers, plus or minus the cup of tea! In an effort to tackle this, the National Trainee Committee for Cardiothoracic Surgery (NTCCTS) has put together an introductory guide aimed at this new cohort of ST1 colleagues.

This guide aims to welcome new trainees to the specialty with a regularly updated resource of tips and advice to hit the ground running in their training. It is a non-exhaustive information bank for trainees in their first few years of training and covers relevant topics such as ISCP, work-based assessments, simulation, reading materials and surgical skills in one userfriendly document.

Below is a taster from one of the fourteen sections.

The guide will be published on the trainee section of the SCTS website and circulated to all newly appointed trainees annually. With the advent of the 7-year curriculum and the impact of the pandemic on training and surgical activity, there really is no time to waste! Maximising training opportunities early on is the best way to start your journey to being a competent cardiac or thoracic surgeon, and we hope this guide will serve as a starting point as well as ongoing reference for new trainees to find their path in training. n