Professional profile of the surgical trainer: Train-the-Trainer curricula (SurgTTT) Strategic partnership of the University of Applied Sciences (HTWK) Leipzig, Germany; the Jesús Usón Minimally Invasive Surgery Centre (CCMIJU) Cáceres, Spain; Semmelweis University Budapest, Hungary and the MEDIS Foundation Campina, Romania. Background of the project is the need to improve specialty training in surgical specialties and a lacking standardization on the pan-European level. As a result of preceding scientific studies of the consortium, it became obvious that a change of the situation in specialty training must begin with the improvement of the pedagogical skills of the consultants responsible for the specialty training of residents, i.e. begin with training of the trainers (TTT). The main objective of the project is to define the professional profile of surgical trainers by designing and testing the most suitable curricula. Another objective is broadening the scope of application of this professional profile to a European level through the development of an open multilingual online learning platform for consultants. The project will start with a transnational survey of the national frameworks for specialty training and a needs assessment for designing a TTT program. On this basis the professional profile for a surgical trainer will be designed in order to afterwards develop a curriculum and teaching materials. The next step is the testing and validation of the curriculum in TTT courses with our target group. The revision of the program will close this process. By the described definition of the professional profile of the surgical trainer, the development of necessary curricula, its testing and validation (within the project) and its integration in our regular educational offers (after the project), it is targeted: a. to make teaching consultants and other stakeholders aware of the challenges and needs in specialty training, b. to make the teaching consultants recognise their pedagogical attitudes and their didactical skills and to develop those further, so that they are able to structure the training and offer individual teaching-learning-support and assessment, c. to contribute to standardization and harmonization of teaching profiles in Europe. The change will work in two directions. On one hand (bottom-up approach) the consultants educated by all partners in or after the project will act as role-models, promote and create interest among colleagues, in the hospitals and medical associations (i.e.dissemination by participants). On the other hand (top-down approach) we will create interest and lobbyism through dissemination to people and organizations on the various levels of decision making. In addition, the online-learning platform will enable impact independent of personal contact and thus multiply effects.
While medical studies are clearly structured through guidelines and regulations, specialty training lacks standardisation and is very weak structured. The last evaluation on specialty training in Germany in 2011, done by the Bundesärztekammer (German Medical Association) showed that 42% of the residents were not fitted with a structured training plan and 25% received only oral information about the specialty training process. Preliminary projects of the University of Applied Sciences (HTWK) in Leipzig, as well as literature research has showed considerably that there is a need to improve the training of specialists, especially in surgery, and not only in Germany but throughout Europe. In addition, surgical specialist training in Europe is few standardized. It was evident in the preliminary projects that it is first necessary to improve the pedagogical abilities of the experienced surgeons (in particular those responsible for training) in order to meet these needs. This motivated the development of a training program for trainers (TTT = train-the-trainer). There exist no consistent, transnational education program focused on the acquisition of pedagogical competences for physicians. Surgeons who are directly involved in specialty training are not requested to have been enrolled in any formative program for teaching skills. This has given rise to requests for the development of a transnational training program for surgical trainers. The aim of this program is to improve the pedagogical skills of the consultants responsible for the specialty training of residents. We developed a professional profile for the surgical trainer and a corresponding curriculum. We defined learning goals, contents and methods, rules for supervising and assessing the learning progress and rules for giving feedback. The open multilingual online learning platform allows consultants and physicians responsible for the specialty training of residents all over Europe to study and use the developed learning material and curriculum. That is unique throughout Europe. An interdisciplinary approach was important for the development of such a training program. That means, besides medical experts, pedagogical experts and experts for the development and implementation of training courses were involved in the project. All project partners played an important role due to their commitment to surgical training and previous projects in this area, and have made an important contribution to the success of the project. Besides the University of Applied Sciences (HTWK) Leipzig as a scientific institution in the field of education, three other international/European institutions participated in the development of the trainer profile: the Jesús Usón Minimally Invasive Surgery Centre (CCMIJU) Cáceres, the department for Surgical Research and Technology of the renowned Semmelweis University Budapest in Hungary, and Medis Foundation, a Romanian surgeon's association/society for surgery. The project started with an international study about the basic conditions for the surgical training of specialists. Based on these results, the demanded profile "Surgical Trainer" was developed, as well as the curriculum and the teaching materials for the "Surgical Train-the-Trainer program". In 3 countries (Spain, Hungary, Romania), test course events were carried out according to the curriculum of the previously developed surgTTT program. These events were jointly evaluated. Finally, the SurgTTT Learning Platform was created and equipped with the course materials. The platform is available in the web with free access for everybody. Thanks to the project, we awakened awareness among the responsibles for surgery training, about the special challenges that this training demands, as well as the needs of their residents. The results-analysis after the test course events showed that the participants were able to assess and develop their own pedagogical behaviors and didactic skills. In this way, they would be able not only to better structure the trainings with their assistants, but also to provide more optimal support in the learning process. Thus, the trainers will be able to evaluate the performance of their assistants, by using the appropriate assessment instruments. The priorities given in the project application for the development of continuing education programs in accordance with the European quality framework as well as their preparation in different European languages (Hungarian, Spanish, Romanian, English and German) could be fulfilled. However, it has been found that short 2-day programs on weekends are more suited to physicians responsible for continuing education, since the clinic day often does not allow for a longer doctor's absence. It is therefore planned to offer additional 2-day SurgTTT courses after the end of the project.