asit cardiff 2012 conference report - jasgbi_number_37_september_2012.pdf.45-47 (1)

7/28/2019 ASiT Cardiff 2012 Conference Report - Jasgbi_number_37_september_2012.PDF.45-47 (1)

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ASSOCIATION OF SURGEONSIN TRAINING CONFERENCEREPORT: CARDIFF 2012

Ed FitzgeraldASiT Past-President & Conference Organiser

As the only pan-specialty national conference forsurgical trainees in the UK and Ireland, theAssociation of Surgeons in Training (ASiT) annualmeeting offers a unique opportunity for clinicalupdates, training courses, researchpresentations, and career talks specifically aimedat surgical trainees. Combined with numerousprizes, a Charity Gala Dinner and theopportunity to socialise with colleagues fromacross the country, the weekend has become anessential date in the diary for all surgical trainees.

Following on from the success of last yearsmeeting in Sheffield [1], this year Cardiff CityHall played host to nearly 700 delegates fromthe UK and overseas. With a record number of1,168 abstract submissions, the conferenceoffered an excellent forum for presentingtrainee audit and research work. The trendsover recent years, together with the abstractsubmission categories, are detailed intable 1.Following a rigorous peer-review process, thehighest scoring abstracts were accepted forposter presentations, with the best selected for

presentation in one of the four oral prizepresentation sessions.

In total, over 3,500 in prizes, grants, andbursaries were available for the best conferencetrainee and medical student presentations.

Numerous surgical associations, charities andcompanies have joined together with ASiT, andother surgical specialty trainee associations, tosponsor these, and all offer a prestigiousaddition to a surgeons curriculum vitae.

Pre-conference courses started the meetingon Friday, in advance of the main plenarysessions on Saturday and Sunday. As ever,

these popular courses offered great value-for-money and covered a broad range of topicsuseful for trainees at all levels. We aregrateful to the work of the course convenorsin organising these.

The pre-conference course day finished with aWelcome Reception in the grand setting of theMarble Hall at Cardiff City Hall. All RoyalCollege of Surgeons presidents were invited toattend and address delegates informally, and wewere delighted that Professor NormanWilliams, from the Royal College of Surgeons ofEngland (RCSEng), accepted. A light-hearted

welcome speech was followed by drinks andcanaps, and a string quartet provided asuitably grand accompaniment to the occasion.

Figure 2: Professor Norman Williams, President of theRoyal College of Surgeons of England, chats informally withconference delegates at the welcome drinks reception.

Following a warm welcome from Mr GoldieKhera (Surgical Registrar and ASiT President2011-2012), Saturday morning saw the start ofthe main conference. Dr Stephanie Brown(Director of Policy, Communications andMarketing at the Medical Protection Society)began with an entertaining and informative talk

discussing her experience of representingsurgeons involved in complaints and litigation.Details of these cases concentrated the mind,and some useful tips were provided. Thesecond talk of the opening session wasprovided by Alison Cook (Director of Policyand Communications at the Royal College ofSurgeons of England), who provided afascinating insight into the modern world ofmanaging the media and politicians in order tobetter represent surgery and surgeons.

Question time with the Presidents of theSurgical Royal Colleges provided one of the

most interactive and inflammatory conferencesessions of 2012. The President of the RoyalCollege of Surgeons of Edinburgh was unableto attend, and was represented by his Vice-President. This lead to some joking from his

Figure 1: Delegates had the opportunity to participate innumerous educational pre-conference courses.


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fellow President, Mr Iain Anderson from theGlasgow College, as to whether he was braveenough to attend what many would consider tobe a lions den, face-to-face with so manysurgical trainees. Each Royal Collegerepresentative was invited to start the sessionwith a brief presentation describing theirColleges activities, particularly for trainees.There followed a question-and-answer session,

covering a diverse range of hot topics, includingthe use of the title Consultant Surgeon bynon-medically qualified podiatrists, theEuropean Working Time Regulations, and somehorizon-gazing regarding future problems insurgical training.

The Swann-Morton Silver Scalpel Award sessionhosted last years winner, Mr Gavin Pettigrew(Consultant Transplant Surgeon, AddenbrookesHospital, Cambridge), in a key-note address onhis vision of excellence in surgical training.From training, surgical practice then took centre

stage with two cutting-edge updates. ProfessorPhilip Wai Yan Chiu, from the ChineseUniversity of Hong Kong, provided an excellentreview of advancements in robotics andendoluminal surgery, while Mr GordonMcFarlane from Lerwick in the Shetland Islandsdiscussed the unique practice of the remote andrural surgeon.

Figure 3: Professor Philip Wai Yan Chiu from the ChineseUniversity of Hong Kong addressed the conference onrecent advancements in robotics and endoluminal surgery.

Following lunch, and poster presentationjudging, the afternoon sessions commenced

with two inspirational and motivationalspeakers. Tori James became the first everWelsh woman to climb Mount Everest at theage of 25, and starred in the BBC documentaryOn Top of the World. She presented the eye-opening story of her journey, overcoming theobstacles of sponsorship and mother-nature toachieve her goals. An equally enthralling talkfrom former ASiT Council member, SurgeonLieutenant Commander Catherine Doran(Royal Navy), provided a detailed account ofsurgery on the frontline in Afghanistan,together with the difficulties of providing this in

such a challenging environment.The Ansell ASiT Medal oral prize presentationsession hosted the highest scoring abstractsubmissions of the conference, with someexcellent reports of high-impact surgical research.

Following this, the winner of the 2011 CovidienASiT Fellowship and the Elsevier Medical StudentElective prize presented their experiences.

The afternoon concluded with the ASiT Debate,How can we measure the quality of surgicaltraining? Mr Ian Eardley (Chair of the JCST),Mr Raj Aggarwal (National Institute of HealthResearch Clinician Scientist, Imperial College

London), Sue Woodward (Chair, Patient LiaisonGroup, RCSEng) and Mr Ed Fitzgerald (SurgicalRegistrar and ASiT Past-President) spoke inturn, with an interesting debate following.

Figure 4: The Royal Welsh College of Music and Dramawas a stunning venue for the Charity Gala Dinner Party, inaid of the Royal Medical Benevolent Fund.

Saturday evening saw the social highlight of theweekend, with over 200 delegates and guestsattending the Charity Gala Dinner Party at thestunning new Royal Welsh College of Music andDrama. The 2012 dinner was held in aid of theRoyal Medical Benevolent Fund and theirPresident, Dame Deirdre Hind, was guest ofhonour. Following a drinks reception with

magicians and a string quartet, a wonderfulWelsh-themed four-course dinner, with wines,was served in the new architect-designedatrium. All nominees for the Swann-MortonSilver Scalpel Award attended as guests, andwere presented with certificates to recognisetheir contributions to surgical training. The2012 prize winner was Mr Humphrey Scott. Amemorable evening concluded with a live DJand dancing into the early hours.

On Sunday morning, the Medical Student andFoundation Doctor parallel session continued

to draw a crowd of keen junior attendees.This years talks covered preparing for a careerin surgery, how to write an abstract, and a newsurgical careers fair where, delegates were ableto informally chat with registrars from all themain surgical specialties, who could answertheir questions directly.

In the main hall, talks addressed the business ofhealthcare and the science of surgical training,with the ASGBI ASiT Short Paper Session, andthe SARS ASiT Academic and Research Surgerysession seeing the remaining highest-scoringabstract authors present their work. This

years ASiT Lecture was delivered by ProfessorDion Morton (School of Cancer Sciences,University of Birmingham) who discussedtrainee-led surgical research collaboratives andthe future of surgical research.

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Afternoon sessions continued with aninternational trainee perspective from Swedenand Italy, followed by UK-specific talksaddressing the role of the Joint Committee forSurgical Training (JCST) and the applicationprocess for surgical training, with detailedstatistics provided by Dr Alison Carr (SeniorClinical Advisor to the Medical Education andTraining Programme of the Department of

Health). The day concluded with the ElsevierMedical Student Prize oral presentationssession, and the announcement of the awardwinners from the conference weekend.

Figure 5: Delegates had the opportunity to visit over 27exhibitors at the conference.

As ever, the Association is indebted to ourcorporate partners who recognise the importanceof supporting the ASiT Conference and investingin a future generation of surgeons. This year sawa considerably larger exhibition with 27organisations attending. From internationalcharities to multinational companies, we werepleased to introduce them to our delegates andthank them for their continued support.

Feedback from delegates was stronglysupportive. As a conference organised bytraineesurgeons fortrainee surgeons, understandingwhat our colleagues want and need from theevent is vital is meeting their educational needs.

Behind the scenes, 12 months of preparationand hard work goes into ensuring the smoothrunning of such a major event. We are gratefulfor the administrative support provided byLaura Andrews, and by Kristina Gloufchev andHarriet Innes over the conference weekend.

We also thank the Council of the Association ofSurgeons in Training, Cardiff University MedicalSchool student helpers, and all our faculty andspeakers for their time and assistance.

Plans are already well advanced for the nextconference in April 2013, and we will beannouncing details over the summer. Abstractsubmission and delegate registration will open

in the autumn. To be kept up-to-date, pleasesubscribe to our email updates via our website,www.asit.org, follow us on Twitter@ASiTofficial, and join us on Facebook.

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Figure 6: The Council of the Association of Surgeons in Training 2011-2012.

Table 1: Trends in abstract submission to the ASiTConference. Note: Abstracts undergo anonymous peerreview by a minimum of three reviewers, with only thehighest marked (under 50% of those submitted) acceptedfor presentation.

Abstract Submission Category Hull 2010 Sheffield 2011 Cardiff 2012

Basic science including anatomy 14 18 21

Breast surgery 30 43 60

Cardiothoracic surgery 21 11 26

Case reports 87 109 121

Coloproctology 59 76 87

Endocrine surgery 5 13 12

ENT surgery 43 73 76

Hepatopancreatobiliary 21 20 26

Maxillofacial surgery 8 11 7

Miscellaneous surgery 55 71 110

Neurosurgery 5 13 18

Orthopaedics 85 99 141

Paediatric surgery 7 15 11

Plastic surgery 28 31 52

Surgical training and education 80 111 160

Transplant surgery 3 6 8

Trauma/Emergency surgery 29 44 62

Upper-gastrointestinal surgery 29 40 40

Urology 40 37 69

Vascular/Endovascular surgery 55 89 61Total abstracts submitted 704 930 1,168

Reference[1] Fitzgerald J E, Giddings C

Association of surgeons in training conference - Sheffield 2011

International Journal of Surgery2011; 9(7):493-4

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