WHAT PEOPLE ARE SAYING
Thank you for being so kind to teach aspiring surgeons!
I am watching every video that you make and practice to get better. Some small gestures that I knew were incorrect or I did not know their “why”. Your training models are very purposeful and creative.
Explicit explanations for instrument choice and handling are difficult to find in early surgical training. Most of us just pick up with repetition along the way. Important to acknowledge that “atraumatic” instruments can in fact be traumatic. I will be considering this next time I am in theatre.
Tom Goldsmith
The Black Belt Academy of Surgical Skills, under the excellent leadership of Mr David O’Regan, is establishing a role as a key provider of surgical education to the next generation of surgeons. BBASS carefully combines a number of important principles to ensure delivery of high quality education.
The curriculum is designed to ensure a trainee has a good understanding of fundamental surgical sciences. This is then integrated with a step-wise, systematic approach to acquiring surgical skills. This teaching is all delivered by faculty members who are also able to adopt the role of mentor. The combination of these factors means that graduates of the academy will be in a great position to become safe and successful surgeons of tomorrow.
Michael Gooseman
I have now watched several of David O’Regan’s on line live Surgical Skills practical lectures and demonstrations. David uses innovative teaching messages that even I as a layman can relate to, for any aspiring surgeon or trainee this is an invaluable resource that should be accessed. The teaching technique is unique and could be applied to any number of skills. Thank you David O’Regan
Roger Thomas
I watched BBASS weekly sessions and practised using different modules since last August.
This summer I’m doing a clinical placement in an A&E. As a first year student, I didn’t expect to get an opportunity to stitch a wound on an actual patient until much later in my education. We simply haven’t learned stitching at university yet and A&E is a busy place – nobody has the time to sit down and walk students through the steps.
However, when an opportunity presented itself thanks to BBASS I could use it and showcase what I learned. Naturally, when thinking of my first stitch I expected the whole experience to be stressful and overwhelming. It wasn’t the case – my hands didn’t shake, I knew exactly what needed to be done, how to put on the sterile gloves, how to set up the table, how to hold the needle and tie the knot.
BBASS saying that you need to practise until you can’t get it wrong makes so much more sense now. A doctor supervising me also said that you couldn’t tell those were the first stitches.
All thanks to BBASS!
Wish you the very best, from Romania
I am admiring you for being kind of a pioneer – an experienced senior surgeon that is openly teaching us online. I wish more surgeons would share their experience through social media.
It was an absolute pleasure to watch David O’Regan via video provide a Masterclass in teaching surgery a new way, but the right way. His combination of humour, props and anecdote made the whole teaching session an absolute joy. My junior colleagues who were watching said that BASS really is putting the fun back into teaching.
I applaud you David and the team you have inspired within the Surgical Skills Dojos. The Royal Colleges would do well to bring in this type of fun driven teaching, which raises our endorphins. The latter is most needed when it comes to training and being trained in the UK.
Professor Hiten RH Patel
David O’Regan is a wonderful teacher and demonstrator of Surgical Skills, he has that rare gift of making it easy for trainees to not only know how but why techniques are necessary.
I am a junior doctor working in Pakistan, currently applying for FY2 positions in NHS. I wanted to update myself through surgery courses on MedAll and came across BBASS. I am hoping to become a paediatric surgeon one day. I wanted to say that even though I understand as an IMG the journey is long and full of challenges, it’s doctors like you that really rejuvenate my
enthusiasm for surgery.
My mind is abuzz after attending your session and I would really like to share my thoughts with you. (Apologies in advance if it all seems a bit scattered) Sometimes it feels like surgeons can experience a certain amount of monotony in how we learn things, but your session changed my mind. To use one concept (martial arts) to teach another (surgery) is one of the most refreshing ways I have learnt about medicine.
I recently started practicing Muy Thai and the respecting the environment is one of it’s core principles. Hearing you talk about paying respect to the body really resonated with me. I am also trying to explore philosophies of how indigenous communities pay respect to the earth that sustains them and how, with it, comes a sense of humility. So, another takeaway for me from your session was that in surgery there is no space for an inflated ego.
A surgeon must pay their respects to the person before them and should embrace a sense of humility. To summarize, I would say this session was about more than dissection – it was about patience, respect, humility and gentleness with oneself and those around us.
Thank you for conducting this wonderful session, and I hope to attend the ones in the future as well.
Dr Afshan Aktar