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. 2024 Nov 18;16(11):e73936.
doi: 10.7759/cureus.73936. eCollection 2024 Nov.

Developing a Curriculum for Trauma and Orthopaedic Higher Surgical Trainees: Implementing Small Group Teaching in a Regional Programme

Lucy C Walker  1 , Joe Barrett-Lee  2 , Alex Chowdhury  3 , Adam C Stoneham  4 , Evan Davies  5 , Daniel Marsland  1
Affiliations

Developing a Curriculum for Trauma and Orthopaedic Higher Surgical Trainees: Implementing Small Group Teaching in a Regional Programme

Lucy C Walker et al. Cureus. .

Abstract

Introduction Small group teaching strategies have been considered more efficient than didactic lectures in motivating trainees. There is a lack of studies focusing on the use of small group discussions for higher surgical training. The aims of the current study were to report the implementation of small group teaching and to move away from didactic lectures for a regional trauma and orthopaedics higher surgical trainee teaching programme. Methods Feedback from the teaching sessions was prospectively collected from trainees regarding the delivery of their surgical curriculum and meeting their training needs using formal feedback forms. Twenty-two consecutive regional teaching sessions were included in the analysis, twelve using a variety of teaching methods including didactic lectures, and ten sessions aiming to focus entirely on a small group format. Comparisons were then made between the two teaching formats. Results A weak correlation was found between the teaching feedback scores and the amount of the session comprised of the small group format as per the published schedules (rs = 0.296) and as rated by the trainees (rs = 0.061). There was a statistically significant positive correlation between the proportion of small group format teaching and how useful the trainees rated this for their education (rs = 0.597, p = 0.005). Conclusions The assessment of small group format teaching in higher surgical trainee education has not been previously reported. The current study shows that trauma and orthopaedics higher surgical trainee satisfaction with Fellowship of Royal College of Surgeons (FRCS) curriculum teaching has a significant correlation with a greater proportion of small group format.

Keywords: didactic lectures; frcs preparation; orthopaedic registrar training; small group teaching; trainee feedback.

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Conflict of interest statement

Human subjects: Consent for treatment and open access publication was obtained or waived by all participants in this study. Animal subjects: All authors have confirmed that this study did not involve animal subjects or tissue. Conflicts of interest: In compliance with the ICMJE uniform disclosure form, all authors declare the following: Payment/services info: All authors have declared that no financial support was received from any organization for the submitted work. Financial relationships: All authors have declared that they have no financial relationships at present or within the previous three years with any organizations that might have an interest in the submitted work. Other relationships: All authors have declared that there are no other relationships or activities that could appear to have influenced the submitted work.

Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1. Correlation between feedback score and the percentage of non-didactic teaching on the published schedule.
Figure 2
Figure 2. Correlation between feedback score and percentage of non-didactic teaching as per trainee ratings.
Figure 3
Figure 3. Correlation between trainee rating of non-didactic teaching usefulness and proportion of non-didactic teaching per session.
Figure 4
Figure 4. Example of teaching feedback form.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

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