Standard online training management platform launched

I will soon entrust my role to Professor Christopher Pyke, a highly respected surgeon who is well regarded by his peers. Chris will bring a calm and respectful demeanour to the portfolio. My professional relationship with Chris began many years ago with shared registrar experiences. I confidently and unequivocally support Chris in this role. The College’s membership is in good hands.

I welcome another Queenslander to the RACS Council. Professor Deborah Bailey is an esteemed surgical colleague with impressive and focused academic management and interpersonal skills abilities. I confidently make these claims after long-standing professional interactions. Deborah is a positive addition to RACS Council. On a final note, I would like to thank all my colleagues. I have worked with many Fellows, Trainees and SIMGs over the nine years I have spent on the Council. I have valued your friendship, professionalism, intellectual abilities and knowledge, and remain in awe of the group which forms Council. Thank you for the opportunity to work with you. I look forward to our paths crossing again in the future. It is not a mistake that I close by acknowledging RACS management and staff. While Council provides strategic direction and meters the risk appetite of the organisation, RACS would flounder without its highly trained, skilled management team and staff. Those with whom I have had the pleasure of meeting and working with have been extraordinarily respectful, pleasant, diligent and delightful. To experience this working relationship has been a highlight of my time at RACS. Thank you for the many contributions you made to my role over the years. I finish by strongly commending to members that RACS is in the hands of an exceptional group who will develop the College’s future.

Dr Lawrence Malisano Vice President

Standard online training management platform launched

The Royal Australasian College of Surgeons (RACS) is proud to announce the launch of our first online training management platform. The platform aims to deliver a single, standard digital channel for surgical training and will support Trainees, trainers, and supervisors throughout the surgical training program. Replacing the onerous paper-based, manual process, which lent little visibility of the complete training journey, the new online platform will provide surgical Trainees and supervisors with an allencompassing view of the entire surgical training program. Trainees will experience increased support and enhanced engagement in real time and on the go. We expect the training management platform to eventually become a ‘surgical passport’ for Trainees. They will be able to manage their training requirements as defined by the curriculum set by the respective training board. Use of the platform will be easy and intuitive. They will also be able to manage their rotations and view their progress and performance throughout the Surgical Education and Training (SET) program. The initial release of the training management platform on 1 February 2022 is available to early SET Trainees, and their trainers and supervisors from the Australian Society of Plastic Surgeons, the Australian & New Zealand Society of Cardiac & Thoracic Surgeons and the Australian and New Zealand Association of Paediatric Surgeons to use when Term 1, 2022 commences. The training management platform will allow RACS to continue to support ongoing development, maintenance of expertise and lifelong learning in surgery. We plan to extend the use of the platform to more specialties as we develop capabilities that will allow us to refine our offering to meet each specialty’s requirements. If you are a training manager and would like to learn more about using the training management platform for your specialty, please contact Bill Mezzetti (bill.mezzetti@surgeons.org). If you are a SET Trainee and would like to investigate using the platform, please contact your specialty society or training board to indicate your interest.