Formal assessment of the surgical trainee: a review of eight years experience at St Lawrence Hospital, Chepstow.

In light of the proposals for a continuum of higher surgical training, we reviewed an 8-year experience of formal assessments of surgical trainees. We undertook a retrospective analysis of 34 completed assessment forms, retrieved from records, and a postal questionnaire of 54 former (and current) trainees. Our study revealed that all trainees agreed in principle with formal assessments. Eighty-one per cent found their assessment either useful or excellent and a further 17 per cent found the advice received was influential in their careers. The consultants, in turn, were able to modify the training programme as a result of constructive feedback. Based on our experience we recommend formal assessments of surgical trainees as an important and rewarding part of an impartial peer review system within a continuum of higher surgical training.