Continuing Formation of our young colleagues

On the day of Santa Claus in December 2022 we launched our first Smart Surgical Forum (SSF). One of our main focuses as the Swiss Society of Surgery is the continuing formation of our young colleagues from the third year of their training to their degree in their sixth year of training.

The idea for the SSF arose when we discussed in our committee what we could do for our young surgeons. There are plenty of good e-learnings available online, mainly created abroad. We are aware that most of our young colleagues (and not only the young ones) prepare themselves for surgical interventions by watching videos on YouTube or other platforms.

In Switzerland, we have a large community of excellent surgeons and teachers, so the idea was born to create our own teaching videos for our young colleagues. It should be something for the younger generation, so the case should be presented by a young colleague. And the presented case should be discussed by two experts in their particular field of surgery. Because the young presenter might feel intimidated by the experts, the moderator is from the same institution, will prepare the case with the young colleague, and will moderate the discussion. In a country of 4 languages, it was obvious that the SSF would be held in a fifth language: English.

The first challenge was deciding when the SSF should take place. Once a month is a good pace, and we decided on the first Tuesday of each month, apart from July and August due to the summer holidays. But during which time? It should be an hour of formation for our young surgeons, and this hour must be held during working hours. Having a delegate of the Forum Junge Chirurgie (FJC) at 1 p.m. has been decided as a suitable time for our young colleagues.

Next challenge: Zoom or MS Teams? It is not possible to broadcast the live SSF on both platforms simultaneously, so we asked our members by email which platform they would prefer or which of the platforms are allowed in their institution. The answer was in favour of MS Teams.

Each member of the committee is responsible for one SSF during the year. We try to alternate between visceral surgery and traumatology. For the traumatology sessions, we asked our orthopedic colleagues as well and we inform their members through Swiss Orthopedics. For the young presenter, it is quite obvious that case should be at the level of trainees in their third to sixth year of training. But we always emphasise when looking for the experts and the moderator that they must discuss basics and things that are important for the young ones, even when there will be a lot of experienced surgeons listening as well the SSF.

Having everything together and knowing that the first session won’t be perfect, we started in December 2022. Like everywhere else, we also had technical issues in the beginning. But we survived and we kept going on with the help and support of our members. A big thank to all of you.

At the end of each live SSF, there is a QR code for scanning so surgeons who need to collect credits will receive one credit. This QR code is only available during the live session. However, everyone who can be registered by our secretary during the live session will receive an email with the QR code. Otherwise, you can write an email to info@ssg-ssc.ch and you will get the QR code. 

All live session will be recorded and uploaded to our webpage.

Have a glimbse here: https://sgc-ssc.ch/medien/smart-surgical-forum.html

In February this year all members will receive a survey by email to assess the SSF. We hope to receive a large number of assessments, comments and ideas for improvement. Or if you have something to tell us now, you can write an email to the author of this article: rebecca.kraus@ksgr.ch.

The results of the survey will be published in a further article on this platform. See you next Tuesday, 5th March  at 1 p.m. online. The SSF always takes place on the first Tuesday of the month at 1 pm.