Intersectionality & Sexual harassment as a Minority Ethnic Female Surgeon

As a trainer, I have even taught women from certain cultures (who may find this level of contact difficult), that this is ‘normal’ in surgery. After reading the editorial and letter of response, in the Royal College of Surgeon’s Bulletin, [1] I have to think again about what I teach. I have taken for granted that surgeons have some sort of moral standing. Maybe I should be explaining also what they should not be tolerating. Even as a female surgeon, often at cultural gatherings, I feel I am perceived differently by women from my cultural or ethnic background, even if they are medical professionals themselves. I feel ostracised as being the woman who is playing with the men at their game. The younger generations however do applaud it, and I see more and more young women have a fervour for surgery. I feel now I want to protect them from this misogyny and sexual harassment more than ever.

The Spine, the New HQ for the Royal College of Physicians, Liverpool, UK

This chapter catalogues the working experiences of the architects AHR and their design team and their clients, the Royal College of Physicians, for the design and construction of The Spine, their new Northern HQ, in Liverpool, UK. This iconic building opened in early 2021 and optimistically reflects the ethos and values of the college, and it is set to become one of the healthiest buildings in the world. It will describe and explain the biophilic and salutogenic design construction processes taken by the design team, from commissioning to completion. The main objective for the college when commissioning AHR architects to design their new building was to significantly expand their facilities and to reflect their standing in the world of medicine. So, the AHR design team endeavored to help them attain their goal of a WELL Platinum and the Building Research Establishments Environmental Assessment Methods (BREEAM) Outstanding certification.

O Exame Para Fellow of the Royal College of Surgeons of Edinburgh

O Exame Para Fellow of the Royal College of Surgeons of Edinburgh

The virtual Clinical Assessment of Skills and Competence: the impact and challenges of a digitised final examination

The COVID-19 pandemic has affected how clinical examinations are conducted, resulting in the Royal College of Psychiatrists delivering the Clinical Assessment of Skills and Competence virtually. Although this pragmatic step has allowed for progression of training, it has come at the cost of a significantly altered examination experience. This article aims to explore the fairness of such an examination, the difference in trainee experience, and the use of telemedicine to consider what might be lost as well as gained at a time when medical education and delivery of healthcare are moving toward the digitised frontier.

Cold War Psychiatry, Extremism, and Expertise: The “Special Committee on the Political Abuse of Psychiatry”

Throughout the history of psychiatric ethical professionalization, the question of the “extremist” contextualizes and frames the limits of medical practice. Using archival research at the Royal College of Psychiatrists, the article explores how professional committees debated medical ethics after evidence of psychiatric participation in national security measures against dissidents. British, American, and global professional associations organized a prominent struggle against Soviet membership of the World Psychiatric Association in the 1970s and 1980s—reconstituting the field of professional expertise through Cold War geopolitics. The Special Committee on the Political Abuse of Psychiatry was formed in 1978 at the British Royal College of Psychiatry to publicize the medical detention of dissidents in the USSR and to pursue the expulsion of the USSR delegation from global professional fora. In doing so, it constituted an identity for Global Mental Health (vis-à-vis Soviet abusive practice) as impartial, objective, and uncompromised. However, this article explores the many ambiguities that complicate the performative constitution of Western psychiatry as good, and Soviet psychiatry as bad—reflecting on the political dynamics, and philosophy of science, which underwrote the struggle for global expertise.

P-EGS06 Evaluating the impact of COVID-19 on the trend of emergency laparoscopic cholecystectomy

Background Since the spread of the new SARS-CoV2 coronavirus in March 2020 to the UK, contradictory recommendations on the practice of laparoscopic cholecystectomies fuelled some debates among surgeons. The British Intercollegiate General Surgery Guidance recommended laparoscopic cholecystectomy as the treatment of choice for acute cholecystitis during the COVID-19 pandemic. Contradictorily, the Royal College of Surgeons of England warned about the unknown risk of viral infection and the release of pressurised gas from laparoscopic surgery. The audit aimed to identify the differences in surgical care before and during the pandemic to study their impact on patients. Methods Retrospective patient data was obtained from September 2019 to September 2020 to include data six months before the pandemic and six months during the pandemic. The data obtained had the patient hospital number, fitness for cholecystectomy, decision made regarding surgery, date of admission and date of surgery. Results 178 patients before COVID-19 and 242 patients during COVID-19 were admitted with gallstone disease. Before COVID-19, 60.67% (n = 108) patients were fit and consenting for surgery. Of these patients, 60.19% (n = 65) were discharged for surgery later and 39.81% (n = 43) had inpatient emergency surgery. During COVID-19, 71.49% (n = 173) patients were fit and consenting for surgery. However, 87.86% (n = 152) were discharged for surgery and only 12.14% (n = 21) had inpatient surgery. The average time from admission to surgery increased from 8 days to 51 days during COVID-19. Although majority of inpatient surgeries were performed within eight days, the percentage performed was fewer during COVID-19. Conclusions The COVID-19 pandemic significantly affected emergency laparoscopic cholecystectomies performed in the hospital with a substantial increase in the average time taken from admission to surgery. More emergency laparoscopic cholecystectomies should be included in the weekly elective lists, design for dedicated emergency cholecystectomy lists and increase utilisation of the CEPOD theatres along with staff availability are required to achieve the emergency cholecystectomy service as guided by the Royal Colleges.

Firsthand Experience in Graduating Three Cohorts of Forensic Pathologists Trained With Competency by Design (CBD) Curriculum

Introduction: The University of Toronto experienced graduating three cohorts of forensic pathologists trained with Competency by Design (CBD) curriculum. We achieved this as a result of multiyear development of Entrustable Professional Activities (EPAs), Required Training Experience (RTEs), and Specialty Competency Requirements (SCRs) by the Royal College of Physicians and Surgeons of Canada’s Forensic Pathology Speciality Committee, the Ontario Forensic Pathology Service, and the University of Toronto. Method: Our academic year is comprised of 13 blocks. We divided the 13-block period into 4 stages to map all the EPAs and RTEs. The first stage, Transition to Discipline, is 1 block, the second stage, Foundation of Discipline, consists of 3 blocks; the third stage, Core of Discipline, consists of 6 blocks, and the final fourth stage, Transition to Practice, consists of 3 blocks. Board-certified faculty members in Forensic Pathology with more than five years of experience supervised the trainees. We graduated 5 Canadian and 4 international trainees at the end of the third cycle of CBD-based training program. Conclusion: Using the Royal College Speciality Committee blueprint, the University of Toronto started in 2016 planning the CBD curriculum in the forensic pathology training program. By the end of June 2021, we graduated nine trainees from our CBD-based Forensic Pathology training program. We are training the fourth cohort, and they will be graduating at the end of June 2022. This article aims to share our firsthand experiencing in CBD training in forensic pathology.