title: Surgical training in your hands: organising a skills course.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  The advent of simulated surgical skills courses has brought dynamic changes to the traditional approach to acquiring practical skills in surgery.
  
  
  BACKGROUND
  Teaching is a core part of the surgical profession, and any trainee can be involved in the organisation of skills training courses. This paper outlines the importance of organising surgical skills courses for trainees, and provides a practical guide on how to do so within busy clinical environments.
  
  
  METHODS
  The paper examines how to plan a course, how to design the programme, and provides tips on faculty staff requirements, venue, finance and participants, with additional suggestions for assessment and evaluation.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  We recommend the organisation of skills courses to any trainee. By following key ground rules, the surgical trainee can enable the acquisition of advanced learning opportunities and the ability to demonstrate valuable organisational skills.
authors.affiliation: Trauma & Orthopaedics Department, Cheltenham General Hospital, UK. henryburnand@yahoo.co.uk
authors.forename: Henry
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Burnand
authors.forename: Jon
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Mutimer
mesh_terms: D002983:Clinical Competence / Q000592:standards*; D003479:Curriculum; D013502:General Surgery / Q000193:education*; D006801:Humans; D016730:Program Development / Q000191:economics / Q000379:methods*; D015397:Program Evaluation; D006113:United Kingdom