117 Foundations for foundation: A Quality improvement project used to develop a pilot surgical skill teaching program Free

The Royal College of Surgeons England outlines competencies required for graduating doctors. However, many graduating doctors lack confidence in their surgical skills. This quality improvement project aimed to identify gaps in surgical skills and develop an acceptable surgical skills teaching program.

Three Plan, Do, Study, Act cycles were completed to assess and improve the program. Confidence in each surgical skill was self-evaluated, and overall satisfaction with the program was assessed using a 5-point Likert scale. Feedback was also used to allow improvements within each cycle.

A pre-teaching questionnaire demonstrated a baseline of confidence in each surgical skill taught. In the first cycle, face-to-face teaching was provided with a structured presentation and supplementary videos demonstrating each surgical skill, followed by time to practice each skill. In the second cycle, supplementary videos were provided before each teaching session to allow more time to practice. Finally, in the third cycle, the structured presentation was divided into two separate teaching sessions to allow further time to practice the surgical skills taught.

Sixteen doctors completed questionnaires. Overall confidence improved in each session, from 1.1/5 in the pre-teaching questionnaire to 4.3/5 in the third cycle. Overall satisfaction was 5/5 by the third cycle.

The study highlighted a widespread need among new doctors increased confidence in surgical skills and demonstrated the potential of a structured teaching program to address this issue. Given the positive feedback, the study should be executed on a larger scale, and its acceptability and effectiveness should be reviewed continuously.