Module overview
This module provides the students with the opportunity to develop the knowledge, skills and attitudes which are necessary to practice in Surgery as a newly qualified doctor. This module builds on earlier Surgical attachments and the Acute Care and Ethics & Law modules. This module focuses on the knowledge and understanding, practitioner and professional skills required of a newly qualified doctor in Surgery, and the assessments within this module will focus on these areas. The BM programmes are however highly contextualised and integrated programmes in which the application of knowledge and understanding, clinical skills and professional practice applicable to medicine are learned through a range of modules none of which are stand alone modules and therefore this module should be recognised by teachers and students alike as part of the whole year and programme.
The module will normally take the format of a 6 week placement in one or more partner trusts. The timing will vary for different student groups and the teaching staff will vary for different practices and student groups. As is the nature of clinical placements, the exact learning experiences of each student will be variable however all students will have access to equivalent learning opportunities to achieve the learning outcomes. Students are expected to be pro-active in securing experiences in areas in order to achieve the programme learning outcomes unique to their needs.
Aims and Objectives
Learning Outcomes
Learning Outcomes
Having successfully completed this module you will be able to:
- Understand the management (incorporating the investigation and treatment) of commonly presenting surgical disorders, in both elective and acute settings
- Maintain appropriate attire and demeanour
- Describe common surgical disorders
- Demonstrate an appreciation of basic safety principles - for patients and staff - in the operating theatre
- Apply scientific method and approaches to medical research
- Communicate effectively in the following ways: a.With the patients and their families b.With professional colleagues c.Written clinical record suitable for inclusion in case notes d.Formal oral case presentations to your colleagues and senior medical staff
- Develop good relationships with all members of the surgical team (medical and non-medical)
- Develop an enquiring basis to learning and take responsibility for your own learning and your continuing professional development
- Describe how you would relate clinical disorders to patients and family
- Understand the patient pathway in a surgical and operating theatre setting
- Contribute to the care of patients and their families at the end of life including management of symptoms and safe and effective Teamworking
- Examine normal and abnormal systems with particular reference to surgical disease
- Demonstrate understanding of the roles of different team members within the inter-professional setting
- Synthesise and communicate a differential diagnosis and proposed plan of management
- Take a history of the presenting complaint, relevant past surgical history, medication history, associated disease particularly those relevant to anaesthesia, and the social history, particularly family and home circumstances which may influence postoperative management
- Understand the process of developing and refining a differential diagnosis in a surgical context
- Demonstrate understanding of basic sciences and pathology underlying common disorders relating to surgical patients
Syllabus
Students are attached to one or more named consultant surgeons and their extended teams, and will gain exposure to general and specialist (breast and endocrine/urological/vascular) surgery. Experience in the clinical team includes emergency work.
There will be opportunities to revise clinical skills teaching, and ample opportunities for completing the practical procedures competency sign offs that are necessary to pass the Assessment and ILS module.
Students’ surgery learning modules will be located in one of the many clinical centres affiliated to the University of Southampton Faculty of Medicine (see separate list).
Details of these attachments and a course handbook will be available during module induction and on blackboard.
Students are required to record their attendance at:
•Theatre Sessions: more than 6
Include at least 3 different subspecialties: colorectal, hepatobiliary, oesophago-gastric, vascular, breast, urology and acute surgery
•Surgical Clinics: more than 6
Include at least 3 different subspecialties: colorectal, hepatobiliary, oesophago-gastric, vascular, breast, urology and acute surgery
This should include urgent cancer referrals and 2WW clinics
•2 x Anaesthetics (from induction of anaesthesia to recovery)
•2 x Multidisciplinary Team Meetings or case conferences
•2 x observed informed consent
You are expected to clerk and present 20-30 cases during your final year surgical placement. This must include both elective and emergency inpatients and can also include outpatients. At least 3 of these patients should be followed through the hospital journey. You should include patients from a range of surgical subspecialties with different symptoms and clinical problems. This will mean that you need to see patients under other surgical subspecialty teams to ensure you get the full breadth of experience. You should briefly summarise the cases and reflect on the learning points, for example ethical, diagnostic, management, or communication challenges. These should be used to inform your further learning.
Common Procedures
You will have the opportunity to observe common operations and interventions. This will give you an understanding of surgical disease management and enable a smooth transition to become a Foundation Year Doctor
Although attendance at every procedure will not be possible, the procedures that you will be expected to understand are:
Upper GI
•Laparoscopic cholecystectomy
•OGD
•ERCP
Lower GI
•Flexible sigmoidoscopy and colonoscopy
•Bowel resection for cancer
•Haemorrhoidal procedures
•Interventions for perianal sepsis
Urololgy
•Diagnostic cystoscopy, stending, prostate surgery
•Scrotal surgery
•Nephrectomy
Vascular
•Abdominal aortic aneurysm repair
•Carotid endarterectomy
•Limb revascularisation (fem-pop/fem-distal)
•Interventional radiological procedure (stenting)
Breast
•Wide local excision
•Mastectomy
•Axillary clearance
•Reconstructive surgery
General
•Laparoscopic and open surgery
• Abdominal and groin hernias
•Minor surgery for skin lesions
Emergency
•Appendicectomy (laparoscopic)
•Laparotomy
•Abscess surgery
Learning and Teaching
Teaching and learning methods
The module will be taught through a range of learning and teaching strategies which may include:
•Outpatient clinics, inpatient operating (elective and emergency), day case surgery and endoscopy
•Tutorials
•Patient and ward-based learning
•Guided self-study
•Satisfactory completion of the Learning Portfolio
•3 Assessments of Clinical Competence (ACCs)
Doctors work in shift patterns and rotas throughout much of their working lives and to prepare you for such working once you graduate within this module there may be some core/compulsory activities that will take place in the evenings, nights or weekends. Therefore students with committments that will be affected by these should be pro-active in securing details of these activities well in advance of the start of the module. In addition, many non core learning opportunities will be available during these times and students are encouraged to take advantage of them.
Students can gain exemption from ACCs at Finals if they evidence satisfactory completion of 3 ACCs during this module (see Finals Assessment Module for further details).
The Learning Portfolio
The purpose of this Learning Portfolio is to record your activities during your surgical attachment. It should act as both a record of your clinical experience and a means of reflecting on your learning.
You are expected to clerk and present a minimum of 30 cases during your final year surgical attachment. This must include both elective and emergency inpatients and could also include outpatients. At least 3 of these patients should be followed through the hospital journey.
You will find space within your Learning Portfolio to record your clinical experience during each of these interactions on a case-by-case basis.
You should briefly summarise the cases/clinical conditions seen within each section, and reflect on the learning points that each has afforded (for example any ethical, diagnostic, management, or communication challenge experienced).
These should be used to inform your further learning, and the Learning Portfolio and its contents should then be discussed with your consultant at the end of your attachment as part of the assessment of your performance.
| Type | Hours |
|---|---|
| Tutorial | 16 |
| Independent Study | 23 |
| Supervised time in studio/workshop | 20 |
| Work based learning | 225 |
| Seminar | 16 |
| Total study time | 300 |
Resources & Reading list
General Resources
Please see the Blackboard module page for current resources. and the full reading list for this module is available on the Library Online Reading List at http://soton.rl.talis.com/.
Assessment
Summative
This is how we’ll formally assess what you have learned in this module.
| Method | Percentage contribution |
|---|---|
| End of Placement Evaluation | 100% |
Referral
This is how we’ll assess you if you don’t meet the criteria to pass this module.
| Method | Percentage contribution |
|---|---|
| Individual Activity | 100% |
Repeat Information
Repeat type: Internal