0125 Surgical care practitioners report increased confidence and perceived benefit from royal college of surgeons basic surgical skills course. (2nd November 2015) - Buchan, Stephanie
Abstract : Background: The role of the Surgical Care Practitioner (SCP) is now well established and their training supported by the Royal College of Surgeons (RCS) Curriculum and a number of Post Graduate Qualifications. We report the results of the first Royal College of Surgeons approved, Basic Surgical Skills Course exclusively for Surgical Care Practitioners gaining postgraduate qualifications. Method: Surgical Care Practitioners currently enrolled in the University of Plymouth Surgical Care Practitioner Programmes were invited to attend the RCS Basic Surgical Skills Course as part of their programme. Participants completed a pre and post course questionnaire assessing their confidence in the 13 surgical skills developed on the course using a 10-point Likert scale. Results: Eight participants attended the course. All the participants reported that the course was relevant and would be of benefit to their profession.6/8 (75%) identified the knot tying and suturing stations as the most beneficial while 2/8 (25%) identified the application of these skills using porcine models for bowel and vascular anastomosis as the most beneficial. Self reported confidence in performing each of the 13 surgical skills improved significantly including knot tying (p = 0.0016), Handling Instruments (p = 0.0038), suturing techniques (p = 0.0016), bowel anastomosis (p = 0.0001) and vascular anastomosis (p = 0.0002). Overall improvement in confidence in surgical skills was also improved (p = 0.0001). Conclusion: The RCS Basic Surgical Skills Course is a useful adjunct to those training as Surgical Care Practitioners and can increase confidence in a wide range of appropriate skills. References: The curriculum Framework for the Surgical Care Practitioner. Royal College of Surgeons 2014. https://www.rcseng.ac.uk/surgeons/training/accreditation/surgical-care-practitioners-scps Quick J. The role of the surgical care practitioner within the surgical team. Br J Nurs. 2013;22(13):759–765