SCTS INSINC Medical Student Committee – What we have achieved in year one Kirstie

Since its creation at the end of April, the inaugural SCTS Student Committee has been working hard to develop new and engaging opportunities for medical students and sixth formers to gain experience within cardiothoracic surgery. The name INSINC summarises our committee’s goal of “INspiring Students IN Cardiothoracic surgery”. Following the success of the first virtual Student Engagement Day, where students from across the world joined to be inspired by amazing speakers, the committee has been keen to address crucial aims such as mentorship, exposure to surgical subspecialties and nurturing the enthusiasm of aspiring surgeons. Here are some of the things we’ve achieved so far.

We have been gathering all medical schools in the UK and Ireland on a central Facebook page as part of an initiative designed to aid interconnectivity and improve communication between the Student Committee and its members. Whilst still growing, it now hosts almost every surgical, cardiology and cardiothoracic society from across the country, promoting collaborative working, allowing event publicity, and easing the process of networking between students. Improving our social media presence has been essential to promoting both the SCTS and work of the Student Committee, as such we have worked hard to increase our combined audience to almost 1000 students. This will be crucial in facilitating the accessibility of information for our members and removing some of the barriers to opportunity students often face.

‘Surgeon of the Month’ is an interview series introduced in September, with the aim of creating overarching mentorship and helping students find surgeons within the field they can identify with. So far, we have interviewed Mr Simon Kendall and Prof Farah Bhatti OBE, offering insight into the thoughts and careers of pivotal members of the cardiothoracic community. By interviewing surgeons from a range of demographics, and covering topics from research to leadership and beyond, we hope to answer questions students may not get the opportunity to ask and promote relatable role models that inspire future cardiothoracic surgeons. Our interviews can be found in the SCTS news and on our social media pages.

Our biggest project over the last few months has been the organisation of the face-to-face Student Engagement Conference, which this year was hosted in Leeds on Saturday 27th November. With a theme of ‘Pioneering in Cardiothoracic Surgery’, the event had a jam-packed morning of specialty-wide talks and an exclusive patient interview, followed by an afternoon of workshops tailored to both medical students and sixth formers. After the close competition at the Student Conference in May, we’re excited to see students once again go head-to-head for the prize in the Cardiothoracic University Challenge.

A student-led, student-focussed educational lecture series, focussing on cardiothoracic topics that students may not gain exposure to during their time at medical school. Whilst benefiting students’ revision, we hope it will better prepare attendees for the complex situations encountered as junior doctors and improve their understanding of common surgical procedures – equipping them to get the most from any clinical experiences.

We are creating a monthly book/journal club where students can come together to hone their critical appraisal skills, keep up-to-date with breakthroughs in the field and explore their own academic interests.

With the aim of addressing common practical challenges students encounter, this informal series hopes to offer practical advice on topics such as ‘getting into medical school’, ‘planning a cardiothoracic elective’ and ‘get the most out of being in theatre’. This will be widely available on the ‘Student’ tab of the SCTS website with the interactive option to submit suggestions for other topics that may be helpful.

Recognising the importance of personalised guidance and support in maintaining students’ enthusiasm for the specialty, we are working hard to create a mentorship team that caters for both sixth-formers and medical students. We hope to open applications for surgeons to become mentors very soon and will subsequently match these with small groups of mentees according to location, demographic and career interests.

Soon to be distributed, we are developing a survey on diversity and inclusivity to allow us to gain some insight into areas requiring improvement, particularly at a medical student level. This will not only better our understanding of what students require from mentors but help find solutions to the loss of aspiring cardiothoracic surgeons at a student level.

Finally, as a committee, we are looking forward to the Annual Meeting in Belfast and have begun working closely with the SCTS to develop and host the Student Day, learning from any experiences gained from the conference in Leeds.

You can keep up-to-date with our exciting projects and latest news on Instagram and Twitter @SCTSINSINC, or ‘SCTS Students’ on Facebook. n