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SICOT e-Newsletter

Issue No. 40 - January 2012

SICOT News

What SICOT has done for me - A trainee's perspective

Syah Bahari
Member of Young Surgeons Committee - Dublin, Ireland





   
   
   

 

I attended the SICOT Congress in Prague last year, which featured the Educational Day that was held for the first time. This is a new initiative by the Young Surgeons Committee (YSC), where most of the orthopaedic syllabus will be covered in the next few years. The aim is to prepare trainees entering the exam and provide others attending an up-to-date and evidenced-based revision on a subject.

We were also informed about the benefits of joining SICOT and the YSC, including the educational and financial support for trainees starting their career in orthopaedic surgery.

Listening to this has brought me back to the first time I first attended a SICOT meeting in September 2007. The mystical city of Marrakech was the venue. It was a wonderful experience as I went to explore the bazaar and the souks of the old city of Marrakech. The educational side of the meeting was beneficial to me as a junior trainee, as I was able to appreciate the different practices of orthopaedic surgery in other countries which were not that common in Ireland.

I was a second-year trainee at the time, just finishing my first-year rotation in June. I had presented at local meetings during my basic surgical training and first year, but presenting at an international congress to an international audience of professors, orthopaedic surgeons, and senior trainees was stressful. With butterflies in my stomach and sweaty palms, I presented my study. To my surprise, the presentation went well, few expected questions were asked but it was not as frightful as I had thought it would be. The presentation went so well that I won an award for the best oral presentation for it. This went better than I expected. I must admit that this spurred me to attend and present at the next SICOT meeting.

Hong Kong was the venue for the SICOT meeting in 2008. The city was vibrant and it was truly a metropolitan city. The educational sessions covered all subspecialties in orthopaedic surgery and I was really spoilt for choice on which session to attend. The Fun Night was first introduced by the YSC in Hong Kong and it was a success. Being more experienced in presenting, I felt that the stress of podium presentation was not as bad as before. Certainly, listening to people's comments and questions has helped me expand and strengthen the discussion in papers that I have published.

Unfortunately, I was unable to attend the SICOT meeting in Pattaya in 2009 but I was geared to attend the next one.

The SICOT conference for 2010 was held in the picturesque city of Gothenburg. The canal cruise was my favourite attraction as at one point all the passengers had to squat down in the boat as we passed a very low bridge. It was certainly not suitable for people with stiff knees! This time the meeting was really stressful for me as I had applied to sit the SICOT Diploma Examination. It was a worthwhile experience as the examination was based on the FRCS (Ortho) examination, which I was planning to sit the year after. The examination in my opinion was fair and the examiners were not as scary as I thought they would be. To me, this is what SICOT is all about: people from different countries and backgrounds, communicating in one language, not English but "Orthopaedics". I was delighted when I went to collect the result of the examination. I was informed that I was one of the best candidates and was awarded the German SICOT Fellowship for 4 weeks.

I went for the German SICOT Fellowship with Dr Sattar Alshryda in July 2011. We visited well-known orthopaedic centres in Berlin, Würzburg, Erlangen and Rummelsberg. Our host looked after us well and I enjoyed the experiences tremendously.

Last year, as a final-year trainee, going to the historical city of Prague for the SICOT Congress, I would like to thank SICOT for the opportunities and the experiences that I have gained. I joined the Young Surgeons Committee, as I want to contribute something in return to the Society. I think that, as a trainee, SICOT membership has benefited me and, as a surgeon, I think I will and I can benefit further in the future.
   

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