Basic Surgical Skills

Basic Surgical Skills, and Training the Trainer

Prof Damon Bizos (Head)

Mrs Susan Parkes (Co-ordinator) Susan.Parkes@wits.ac.za

Mrs Johanna Genade (Co-ordinator) Johanna.Genade@wits.ac.za

Surgical education and ensuring competence is evolving rapidly from an apprenticeship scheme to a training system. Initial emphasis has been on technical skills training courses but other domains of surgical competence are now being addressed. The initial Basic Surgical Skills courses (BSS) are also now being supplemented by intermediate and advanced skills courses. To find out more about the course on Basic Surgical Skills please phone Mrs Susan Parkes 27-11-717-2080 or Mrs Rina Genade 27-11-717-2580.

Training in teaching methods (Training the Trainers) and Assessment and Appraisal courses have been run and TTT courses are now run regularly in Johannesburg. Johnson and Johnson and the Miller Foundation have facilitated visits by Mr. Rodney Peyton in the establishment of the TTT.

Surgical Skills centers are being developed. Dedicated centers are functioning at Wits, Natal and Cape Town. Other centres usually use undergraduate skills centres.

Participation per course is limited to 16 participants, and is recognized by the Colleges of Medicine of South Africa and the Royal College of Surgeons of England. The cost is R1900 per participant for the 3-day BSS course and includes the course manual from the RCS(Eng).