Requirements for trainee logbooks

All trainees are required to keep a logbook as a record of the procedures they have carried out during their surgical training. However, the current logbook is only a record of work carried out and not of the outcome of the operations. It does not prepare the trainee for either a lifetime practice of surgical audit or for a lifetime of learning from the audit process. The logbook requirements of different training boards vary and consequently, trainees find the keeping of a logbook an inconsistent process with ill-defined learning objectives. The Royal Australasian College of Surgeons should define what needs to be collected, how data should be verified and how experience and learning should be reported, and should approve electronic databases that meet logbook standards. The choice of database software and format can then be left to the trainee. Although there are good examples of electronic logbooks being developed, there is, at present, no perfect logbook available. We recommend that all trainees, from the commencement of basic surgical training, should keep a logbook that contains the minimum and expanded datasets in addition to specific trainee data on supervision and learning. In addition to the current reporting format focused on procedural casemix and supervision level, quality/outcome reports and a record of learning are recommended.