• S Gopakumar, B Kumar, J Ahmed, N Siddiqi, S Mehmood, and P J Moore.
• Department of General Surgery, Scunthorpe General Hospital, Cliff Gardens, Scunthorpe, North Lincolnshire DN15 7BH, United Kingdom. sgkumar1@doctors.org.uk
• Int J Surg. 2010 Jan 1;8(2):135-9.

IntroductionOver the past decade there has been considerable change to surgical training such as modernising medical careers which have raised concerns over exposure to operative experience. With the National Health Service (NHS) plan aiming for the majority of elective surgical cases to be performed as day cases we sought to assess the level of exposure modern day surgical trainees obtain in day case surgery.MethodsAn anonymous electronic questionnaire survey was completed by 100 surgical trainees in surgical training across the United Kingdom (UK) from a variety of sub-specialities. 16 questions pertinent to day case surgery exposure were answered.ResultsThe majority of the trainees who completed the survey felt day case surgery is a vital part of their training as a surgeon. Only less than one-third of all the trainees had formal timetabled day case surgery lists. Of the 31 trainees who had scheduled day lists only 58% (n = 18) were consistently able to attend. The most common reasons for being unable to attend were rota issues and lack of encouragement from seniors. 90 trainees (90%) were not satisfied with their overall Day Case Surgery training.ConclusionsThe survey reveals that the modern surgical trainee is gaining a low and inconsistent level of exposure to day case surgery despite being aware of the importance of this modality of training. An urgent review is required to ensure trainees become actively involved in day case surgery and are not missing on this vital training opportunity.Copyright 2009 Surgical Associates Ltd. Published by Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

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