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Dukes’ Club Meeting – April 17th 2010
Marriot Forest of Arden Hotel
Another very successful, enjoyable and informative Dukes’ Club meeting took place at the Marriot Forest of Arden Hotel in Warwickshire in April 2010, with fifty Dukes’ Club members attending. As ever, Ethicon Endo-Surgery very generously provided an unconditional educational grant for the meeting, and their continued support of the Dukes’ Club and its members is very much appreciated.
The meeting commenced on Friday evening when an introduction to the Haptica laparoscopic trainers. This was a hands-on session that allowed participants to practice laparoscopic techniques on state-of-the-art trainers, and made for an excellent start to the weekend, with people commenting that it was both useful and fun.
A full program with varied content was set up for Saturday, obviously not having previously seen the weather forecast! Despite the glorious sunshine outside, the room remained full for the entire day, due in large part to the excellent talks given by the speakers.
The morning commenced with a number of people who have completed fellowships talking about their experiences. The session was chaired by the always-colorful Graham Williams who explained the need for added value gained during fellowships when applying for consultant jobs in the current competitive climate. John Evans spoke about his laparoscopic fellowship, completed at St Marks’, and the TEMS fellowship that he did in Nottingham, and explained the expertise he had gained by doing both prior to taking up substantive post. Chris Harmston gave his take on the pelvic floor fellowship he undertook in Oxford, talking about how he used the experience to create a niche offering that put him in a strong position when applying for the consultant job he recently took up in Coventry. Finally, Justin Yeung gave a very interesting talk on his Australian fellowship, giving insight into the difficulties arranging the logistical side of the trip, but the huge benefits and levels of experience gained once there. Mark Thomas, from Ethicon Endo-Surgery, then spoke about the current fellowships sponsored by Ethicon, and explained how trainees can apply for these well-regarded fellowships, as well as plans for the fellowships in the future. He explained that there would come a time when laparoscopic training takes place during SpR jobs, rendering the fellowships obsolete.
After coffee, Gill Tierney and Jon Lund gave a session on “How to pass the exit exam”. They run the FRCS revision course, “Going for Gold”, and gave excellent advice on how to prepare for the exam and methods to minimize the chances of things going wrong on the day. There has subsequently been a rush on anti-histamines to prevent stress-related flushing!! Attendees were given the opportunity to have mock vivas in front of all others, and some people even volunteered!!
The morning was rounded off by an excellent, entertaining talk from the current President of the Association of Coloproctology of Great Britain and Ireland, Najib Haboubi. The Dukes’ Club was very honored by his presence and we thank him once again for taking time out of his very busy schedule to come. He was invited to talk about life as “A pathologist amongst Surgeons”. He recounted tales of his life, from growing up and training in Iraq, to coming to the U.K. and having to adapt to a completely different system, and finally detailing how he has come to forge such close relationships with surgeons that have led to him being elected President of the ACPGBI.
After a light lunch, John Lengyel spoke about life as a new consultant and gave some excellent, and at times very funny, advice on how to avoid pitfalls, as well as how to enjoy what we are all training to become. Subsequently, James Wood gave an update on the JETS website that is being introduced for colonoscopy record keeping for trainees.
An excellent and interesting, yet very sobering, talk by Doug Bowley on trauma surgery rounded off the afternoon. He spoke about the experience he has gained of trauma through his role as a military surgeon, and ways in which lessons learnt in the theatre of war can be translated into everyday NHS surgical care.
The meeting concluded with the Dukes’ Club Dinner on the evening, prior to departure on Sunday.
The Dukes’ Club Committee would like to once again extend thanks to all speakers for making the meeting such an enjoyable, interesting and educationally varied occasion. Looking forward to next year!!! |
