Equipping surgeons as educators

There is a developing interest in equipping surgeons as educators but a perceived lack of knowledge and evidence about how to do this effectively, or how to reward and recognize educational expertise within the surgical career structure. A brief consideration of the surgical educator role is offered. The findings and conclusions of a meta-analysis of the influence of faculty development in medical education are summarized. Various sources are drawn on to present an overview of master's level provision in medical education and a master's in surgical education is outlined. Issues relating to developing suitable curricula, educational accreditation, recognition, reward and career structure are raised and some UK approaches to these areas summarized. Evidence indicates the importance of context in training medical educators, the value of experiential learning, training that is spread over time and training that mixes theory, practice and reflection. A schema for recognizing educational expertise, created as an outcome of analysis of the evidence and current provision, is presented. The effect of a possible change from educational training being voluntary to the introduction of a compulsory regime is raised as an area requiring further discussion and evidence collection. Mechanisms by which to acknowledge, reward and recognize education expertise in surgeons do not generally exist; it is suggested their development would be timely.