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Innovations in trainee-led surgical training mentors for the work that they put into training. With more than 100 attendees each year, this popular event showcases the vibrant and extensive community that support the training of these young registrars. ANSA’s trainees have generated several spin-off programs. The Victorian collaborative for Education, Research, Innovation, Training and Audit by Surgical trainees (VERITAS) have been prolific researchers, authoring a host of publications following projects such as COVIDSurg, PROTECTinG, SUNRRiSE, SOS, and POSTVenTT.
Trainee-led surgical training is the spirit in which the Austin-Northern Surgical Trainees Association (ANSA) is run. Originally conceived in 2016 as the Austin Surgical Trainees Education Committee, this approach gave trainees opportunities to coordinate and improve their own training. Six years and a name change later, ANSA now stands as an association of 61 trainees with more than 100 alumni from the Austin-Northern Training Hub— the first of its kind in Australia. The Austin-Northern general surgical training hub is one of Australia’s largest, with a vibrant and comprehensive education program catering to a variety of registrars. Thrice-weekly ‘Shock and Awe’ fellowship examination preparation tutorials are coordinated by education officers at the Austin and Northern, while the highly sought-after fellowship practice exam ‘Wake-Up session’,started in 2017, has become a staple in Victorian Fellowship exam candidates’ preparation. For non-SET trainees, a series of practical clinical knowledge workshop series is coordinated and run by interested SET trainees. This is interspersed with interview preparation and CV crafting
sessions, which have helped many of our non-accredited surgical trainees, with more than half the applicants being selected into the SET training program in 2021. Originally dependent on the hub and hospital supervisors, ANSA now works independently of the hospital hierarchy, with democratically elected officers selected from the Trainee pool working in parallel with the supervisory staff. These Trainees give their time voluntarily to assist in nonclinical aspects of the training program—with officers sitting on hospital committees to offer junior doctor opinions and insight into the impacts of new initiatives. As an independent organisation, ANSA organises Gratias Cena, a yearly dinner to thank their consultants and
All trainee organisations have their fair share of social events and welfare initiatives. At ANSA, these include informal orientation events, peer support catchups, and the yearly trivia night— attended by registrars and consultants alike from Victoria, Tasmania and the Northern Territory. These have paved the way for larger, more formal programs, such as ROSE for medical parents—a mentorship and peer support group encompassing all stages of parenting and family planning. The Austin-Northern general surgical training hub encompasses 48 positions over 14 sites in Victoria, Tasmania and the Northern Territory. With 61 registrars
