40-4-40: educational and economic outcomes of a free, international surgical training event

Purpose of studyTo demonstrate a model for delivery of an international surgical training event, and demonstrate its educational and economic outcomes.Study designThe Association of Surgeons in Training (ASiT) ran a course series on 16 January 2016 across the UK and Ireland. A mandatory, self-reported, online questionnaire collected delegate feedback, using 5-point Likert Scales, and a NetPromoter feedback tool. Precourse and postcourse matched questionnaires were collected for ‘Foundation Skills in Surgery’ (FSS) courses. Paired economic analysis was performed. Statistical analysis was carried out using RStudio (V.3.1.1 Boston, Massachusetts, USA).ResultsForty courses were held across the UK and Ireland (65.0% technical, 35.0% non-technical), with 184 faculty members. Of 570 delegates, 529 fully completed the feedback survey (92.8% response rate); 56.5% were male. The median age was 26 years (range: 18–67 years). The mean overall course NetPromoter Score was 8.7 out of 10. On logistic regression high NetPromoter Score was associated with completing a Foundation Skills in Surgery course (R=0.44, OR: 1.49, p=0.025) and having clear learning outcomes (R=0.72, OR: 2.04, p=0.029) but not associated with specialty, course style or teaching style. For Foundation Skills in Surgery courses, delegates reported increased commitment to a career in surgery (pConclusionThe ASiT ‘40-4-40’ event demonstrated the diversity and depth of surgical training, with 40 synchronous technical and non-technical courses, demonstrable educational benefit and a significant cost saving to surgical trainees.