Basic surgical training. 1: Postgraduate surgical examinations in the UK and Ireland.

This report is concerned with the place of the basic medical sciences, and particularly of anatomy, in the training of surgeons in the UK and Ireland. It reviews the present arrangements and their perceived shortcomings and outlines the proposals for a new 2-year program of Basic Surgical Training drawn up by the four Royal Colleges of Surgery in the UK and Ireland. The new proposals severely restrict the time available to surgical trainees for study of anatomy, exposure to which has already been drastically curtailed in the undergraduate medical course. Although it is intended by the Royal Colleges that specialized anatomy appropriate to the various surgical specialties will be examined during Higher Surgical Training, the author contends that anatomy as it applies to all aspects of surgery must be learned and examined thoroughly during Basic Surgical Training. Examination by MCQs' alone is not enough: there is a need for practical assessment in the final assessment at the end of Basic Surgical Training, and this should involve anatomists as well as surgeons. Surgical skills are built upon anatomical knowledge, the study and examination of which must not be reduced to a level where it is detrimental to the care of patients.