New OMFS SAC chair Emma Woolley pledges to refocus surgical education away from a tick box culture
17 January 2018 (Last updated: 19 Jan 2018 16:58)
PRESS RELEASE
For immediate release 17 January 2018
New OMFS Specialty Advisory Committee chair Emma Woolley pledges to refocus surgical education away from a tick box culture
Emma Woolley, Consultant OMFS surgeon and Director of Medical and Dental Education at the Betsi Cadwaladr University Health Board, has been appointed the new chair of the Specialty Advisory Committee (SAC) responsible for oral and maxillofacial surgery. Emma Woolley takes on the role from January 2018.
“One of the key things I want to do as the new SAC chair is assess the quality of training and education in the most meaningful way, and to do this I think we need to move beyond the tick box culture that has developed,” Emma Woolley explained.
“I believe strongly that there is a difference between training and education – training teaches the specific knowledge and technical skills but this is not enough for true expert practice as an OMFS surgeon. Surgical education is about learning overall global competence and we need to focus on the holistic development of our junior colleagues as professionals. The introduction of the new surgical curricula in August 2018 will, I believe, address this explicitly for the first time.”
She called on colleague trainers to enact the new curricula so that “all the training programme directors (TPDs) and trainees are up to speed with its philosophy and what it’s trying to teach and assess. The role is also about working closely with the JCST around meaningful quality assurance assessment of programmes and surgical education”.
Emma Woolley had been the current SAC curriculum lead for the oral and maxillofacial surgery SAC. Members serve five years on the committee, which plays a key role in developing and maintaining the surgical curricula. It also provides wide-ranging surgical education support and advice for postgraduate Deans and Schools of Surgery. The SAC recommends which trainees are awarded the Certificates of Completion of Training (CCT).
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For further information and interviews contact: Siân Evans on 020 8674 8921 / 07752 414433 / sian@goodevansmedia.co.uk or BAOMS office@baoms.org.uk
Notes to editors
The British Association of Oral and Maxillofacial Surgeons (BAOMS) promotes the advancement of education, research and the development of oral and maxillofacial Surgery in Great Britain, and encourages and assists postgraduate education, study and research. For more information go to: www.baoms.org.uk
The Joint Committee on Surgical Training (JCST) is the parent body for all 10 Specialty Advisory Committees (SACs), and responsible for all the surgical specialties. For more information about the JCST go to: https://www.jcst.org/committees/ or call 020 7869 6252
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