Edinburgh Student Surgical Society
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​The Chatty Student: Blog

Why you should join ESSS?

3/7/2021

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​ESSS is the biggest student surgical society in Edinburgh and has always strived to provide students with greater exposure to surgery. We aim to help keen budding surgeons develop their interest in surgery further and gain a better insight into various surgical specialties. 
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Building Surgical Skills during Medical School

2/21/2021

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Most medical schools around the UK lack adequate surgical skills teaching. As a result, anyone wishing to learn basic suturing and knot tying is forced to look for opportunities outside of their regular classes. This is a situation that turned us both to ESSS for experience and from thereon out, we’ve improved our skills from both inside and outside of the society. Below, we outline some tips on how to build on your surgical skills as an undergraduate medical student from our personal experience.
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An Insight into Neurosurgery - Mr James Loan

2/8/2021

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Mr James Loan is a neurosurgical clinical lecturer and honorary neurosurgical registrar on the Edinburgh Clinical Academic Track training programme. He is currently undertaking a PhD examining regulators of inflammation in the brain after acute brain haemorrhage. 
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Kids Operating Room

1/22/2021

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Kids Operating Room is Scotland’s leading global health charity that creates and equips dedicated paediatric surgical facilities in some of the world’s poorest countries. Their operating rooms have already provided almost 30,000 life-changing operations across 14 countries and they have an ambitious plan to expand across Africa and South America.
Their Chairman, philanthropist Garreth Wood, has written this article about the challenges in global child health and how KidsOR’s sustainable approach is impacting the landscape.
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Women in Surgery

11/22/2020

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Pia Wahi-Singh is a medical student at the University of Edinburgh. She is from Arizona, USA. 
She greatly enjoys combing her interest in advocacy with her passion for surgery in her role as Association of Women Surgeons Edinburgh president.
In her free time, she does Bhangra and Bollywood dance and hikes in the red rocks of Arizona.
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Intercalating in Surgical Sciences: What it’s like & How to Make the Most out of it

11/9/2020

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​Last year I completed my intercalated degree in Surgical Sciences and I could not recommend it more to anyone interested in surgery! In this blog I hope to give you some insight into what the degree is like and how to make the most of it.

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Applying to the Academic Foundation Programme

10/26/2020

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​Dr Andrew Clelland is an academic foundation doctor at the University of Cambridge, currently based in East and North Hertfordshire NHS Trust. He is a co-founder of the Cambridge Foundation Trainee Surgical Society, and has served previously as President of ESSS in 2019-20. He studied at the University of St Andrews before transferring to Edinburgh University to complete his clinical studies. He previously completed a degree in Pharmacy (MPharm).
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Anatomy & Development: A reflection on my intercalated year.

10/11/2020

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​Choosing my intercalated degree
The intercalated BMedSci is a wonderful opportunity to explore the areas of medicine that most interest you, while developing your scientific understanding and critical thinking skills. However, choosing your intercalated degree can feel overwhelming, particularly if you’ve multiple interests within medicine. I certainly felt under pressure when choosing my degree - hopefully this blog post will be a helpful guide for any students struggling to decide. 
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An Insight into the Royal College of Surgeons of Edinburgh

9/26/2020

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Mr J. N. Alastair Gibson, Honorary Treasurer at the Royal College of Surgeons of Edinburgh (RCSEd), shares an insight into the history, institution, and membership of the RCSEd.
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His interview can be found below:

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Surgery in the Humanitarian Sector - Professor John Buckels

9/7/2020

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Professor John Buckels shares his experiences of working as a surgeon on the front line with Médecins sans frontiers, an international humanitarian medical organisation.
Professor John Buckels worked at the Queen Elizabeth Hospital, Birmingham on what became the Birmingham Liver Unit.  In the UK he pioneered reduced size livers for children and splitting livers for 2 recipients.  In 2002 he was honoured with a CBE for his contribution to transplantation, and in 2005 granted a personal chair, Professor of Liver Transplant and Hepato-biliary Surgery.  Since retirement he has worked extensively with MSF.

His interview can be found below:
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The Soft Skills No one Talks About - Aya Riad

4/15/2020

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Have you ever wondered about the untaught, 'soft' skills of surgery? This week's article, written by newly-elected ESSS Senior Vice President, Aya, provides advice on achieving important skills such as Networking and Data Handling.

Aya is a third-year medical student at the University of Edinburgh, currently undertaking a BMedSci in Surgical Sciences. She has interests in academic surgery, global health and medical informatics and has recently been awarded the RCS Intercalated Bachelor of Science Degree in Surgery Grant for her dissertation with Edinburgh Surgical Informatics team. She is the Edinburgh Regional Lead for the STARSurg research collaborative and is involved in various student societies including being Vice Convenor of the Medical Students Council and Senior Vice President of the Edinburgh Student Surgical Society. Here's what she had to say...


​As medical students interested in surgery, we all try to do well in exams, practice our surgical skills and get involved in some research. What I recently realised is that there is a whole set of “soft” skills that are not immediately associated with surgery but nonetheless very helpful. A blog post could be written on each of these, but below is a brief list of what they are and some ideas on how to work on them.

**As a medical student I am in no way an authority on what skills you need; so this is just a reflection of my personal experiences, opinions and things I may have benefited from knowing earlier. **



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Getting Involved in Research at Medical School - William Cambridge

3/25/2020

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We asked Edinburgh Fourth Year and ESSS Vice-President William Cambridge about getting involved in research at Medical School. 

William has interests in Hepato-Pancreatico-Biliary Surgery, Transplantation and Surgical Oncology. He has published research (Annals of Surgery), and presented at several conferences and symposia, for which he was awarded winner of the Oral Presentations at The Royal College of Surgeons of Edinburgh Student and Foundation Years Research Symposium.
 

In 2018/19, William was awarded 'Most Distinguished Scholar Prize’ for Health Sciences.

Here's what he had to say...

*Disclaimer: All of the advice provided here relates to things I’ve experienced; it may be incorrect and, like everything else in medicine, do not take it as gospel.

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The 2020 Surgical Spotlight Series - Episode 2

3/25/2020

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Mr Jamie Nicholson: Trauma and Orthopaedic Surgery

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The 2020 Surgical Spotlight Series is a monthly blog article in which Edinburgh-based surgeons shed light on their surgical specialty and daily life. Our aim is to educate students about each of the various specialties and the array of opportunities they bring.

In March, we interviewed Mr Jamie Nicholson, a Senior Registrar at the Royal Infirmary of Edinburgh. He was the previous module organiser of the Undergraduate T&O block for Edinburgh University during 2017-2019.


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Reflections of a Final Year Keen For Surgery - Andrew Clelland

3/8/2020

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We asked Edinburgh Sixth Year and ESSS president Andrew Clelland about his top tips for students interested in pursuing surgery. Here's what he had to say...

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Final year of med school represents an exciting time of change but is a marathon with possible academic foundation job applications, the judgement test, finals and of course your elective! This means that most of your experience in surgery will likely have to come before this time as there is less time once working as a junior doctor. So this post will hopefully provide some useful tips for budding surgeons keen to get the most out of their time in medical school!

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*Disclaimer: before reading, this list is not exhaustive, nor is it intended to be a checklist which you must frantically complete! Read it, have a think, set your goals and chat to someone about how you’re going to take things forward.


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The 2020 Surgical Spotlight Series - Episode 1

1/27/2020

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Professor Lorna Marson: Transplant Surgery

The 2020 Surgical Spotlight Series is a monthly blog article in which Edinburgh-based surgeons shed light on their surgical specialty and daily life. Our aim is to educate students about each of the various specialties and the array of opportunities they bring.

In January, we interviewed Professor Lorna Marson, a Professor of Transplant Surgery and Honorary Consultant Transplant Surgeon at the Royal Infirmary of Edinburgh.
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​​​Professor Marson has an interest in renal transplantation, both in the context of living and deceased donation. She is also involved in the pancreas transplant programme.

From 2017-19, Professor Marson held the position of President of the British Transplantation Society, and was awarded a Personal Chair in Transplant Surgery in August 2018. Having worked as a Senior Lecturer (2004-15) and Reader (2015-18), Professor Marson is now Director of Admissions for the College of Medicine and Veterinary Medicine at the University of Edinburgh.

The interview can be found below:

What led you to choose the specialty?
I had planned a more sensible choice, but I love the technical aspects of transplant surgery, the fascinating immunology and, in particular, the ethical challenges. I also love the team.
 
Describe a typical day in your life.
One of the things I love about my job is that I don’t have a typical day, as I also work for the university. Clinically there is a ward round every morning, and I do a live donor kidney transplant once a week. I also work in assessment clinics and we have weekly multidisciplinary meetings, for both living donors and transplant recipients.
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Outside of work, I love spending time with my family, we are all mad about exercise, so I like running and cycling. Plan to take part in a triathlon this year. I also like reading, and relaxing.

 
How intensive is your work schedule?
Transplant surgery is intensive, when I am on call. I can be up all night operating, and if not, I usually get a lot of phone calls overnight. This is to discuss organ offers, to decide whether to accept an organ for a particular patient.
 
Favourite things about your specialty?
Transplantation is a miracle for people. We transform people’s lives through the work we do and that is humbling and rewarding
 

Highlights of your career?
I was elected President of the British Transplantation Society, by my peers and colleagues. That was very rewarding.
I was promoted to Professor in Transplant Surgery, which was also a real honour. I wish my Dad had been alive to see that, he would have been very proud.

 
What challenges do you face?
I have faced challenges as a woman in surgery, particularly trying to balance my family and my work. But my children are grown up, I am very proud of them and relieved they are such great people.
Sometimes it has felt that I have missed out on some of the “boys’ club”,  but on balance, I am proud of having achieved what I have done whilst not losing a sense of myself.


Any advice for medical students?
If you feel passionate about a career, go for it. Don’t listen too much to people trying to put you off. Take on board their comments, but follow your own heart.
 
What attributes are best suited to your specialty?
Resilience is a major part of it. And a sense of humour. Always be kind and friendly to be people around you, whoever they are.
 
Who is your biggest inspiration?
I had two main mentors in my training, who were there at a time when I needed direction and support. One who was there when I decided to pursue a career in general surgery, the other inspired to be a transplant surgeon. Both are male.

ESSS would like to thank Professor Lorna Marson for her co-operation in the production of this article.

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    Articles are written by Edinburgh-based students and doctors, for the benefit of those interested in surgery.

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  • Home
  • ABOUT US
    • WHAT WE DO
    • COMMITTEE 2021/22
    • MEMBERSHIP
    • SPONSORS
    • FAQs
  • EVENTS
    • EVENTS CALENDAR
    • WORKSHOPS
    • CONFERENCE
    • SPECIAL EVENTS
    • SURGICAL SKILLS CLUB
    • ESSS AWARD
    • ART COMPETITION
  • ART EXHIBITION
  • MEMBERS AREA
    • RESOURCES >
      • SURGICAL SKILLS VIDEOS
      • SURGICAL SKILLS CLUB
      • INTERCALATION
      • TUTORIAL HANDOUTS
    • STUDENT OPPORTUNITIES
    • NEWSLETTERS
    • CHATTY STUDENT: BLOG
    • GALLERY
  • CONTACT US