the 74 bulletin
‘Very practical and interesting. Approachable and skilled teachers, staff.’
It allowed delegates to practice rare and critical scenarios in a safe environment, to learn surgical skills and to practice skill stations for NTN applications. The feedback received was extremely positive with comments such as:
‘Lots of skills, well organised’, ‘Great equipment, range of activities and quality of teaching. All the demonstrators were very enthusiastic and passionate about what they do, making us medical students more inclined to apply for Cardiothoracics! I’ll definitely recommend this course to colleagues if there are future sessions, it was very fun! Thank you.’
‘Very well pitched to medical students. All educators were very open and friendly, allowing opportunity to ask questions.’ ‘Excellent practical opportunities with good equipment, great quality of teaching, well developed. Covered a lot of skills.’
The participants learnt, practiced and repeated procedures, improved their skills, and mastered clinical protocols designed to improve outcomes before seeing patients. Due to COVID-19 restrictions, the Summer 2020 CATS course was postponed (we ran webinars instead) and is evolving into a hybrid and simulated course. n
‘Organised and kept to time. Enthusiastic and inspiring teachers/surgeons. Gave many tips.’ ‘High tutor to delegate ratio, all stations useful. Faculty approachable, friendly and encouraging.’
Medical students’ perspectives on cardiothoracic surgery during COVID-19 Ria Sanghavi, School of Medicine, University of Central Lancashire Raneesha Pillay, School of Medicine, Barts and The London, School of Medicine and Dentistry and Faculty of Dentistry, Oral and Craniofacial Sciences, King’s College London
T
he coronavirus disease (COVID-19) has caused a global pandemic and today, the death toll is currently at 1,976,998. It may be trivial to think of how COVID-19 may hinder or progress our career towards cardiothoracic surgery (CTS) whilst people are still dying. However, it is key to reflect on how this virus has impacted our future careers because we are the next generation
of doctors, and as disturbing as it may be to think, we may be the ones that fight the next pandemic. We discuss how COVID-19 has reduced exposure to CTS in some ways and increased it in others. It is the time exposed to a specialty first-hand that enables you to decide if it is what you want to pursue. When we began medical school, we quickly realised that there is little exposure, if any at all,
to CTS in the undergraduate medical programme. Exposure was further reduced when the pandemic caused medical schools around the UK to close a semester early. Additionally, COVID-19 pushed hospitals to only undertake urgent surgeries and CT surgeons were selective on the type of surgeries that were performed due to unquantifiable additional risks because of COVID-19.