10th BAPRAS Undergraduate Day

BAPRAS held its 10th Undergraduate Course in Bristol on Saturday 16th March 2013. This well established event was for the first time held in the South West with over 100 attendees coming from all over the UK.  The aim of the day was to provide medical students with a taste for the plastic surgery speciality, to develop practical reconstructive surgical skills and to be able to present undergraduate projects at a national level.

The three main themes of the presentations were subspecialties in plastics, research opportunities and tips on how to prepare for applying for a plastic surgery training post. Mr Umraz Khan, Consultant at Frenchay Hospital and host for the day, opened the event. Mr Khan would later talk about his expertise in lower limb reconstruction and his experience of working in resource poor settings in Pakistan. Mr Graeme Perks, BAPRAS president, then gave a warming overview of the current place of plastic surgery within the NHS and discussed various case reports regarding the role of plastic surgeons in cancer surgery. Mr Simon Eccles provided a thorough account of the complexities, psychology and safety aspects involved in aesthetic surgery. Mr Anthony MacQuillan introduced students to the latest developments in hand surgery and brachial plexus repair. Mr Hisham Taha successfully married the subspecialties together by reflecting back through the history of plastic surgery so that the incredible techniques and operations that are carried out today could be appreciated.

The event made a special emphasis on plastic surgery research, both from a basic scientist point of view in the laboratories and from a clinical research view in the hospitals. Professor Paul Martin gave an overview of his career in wound and scar healing research using mouse, fish and fly models. His stimulating talk, augmented with videos of the scarring process in action provoked active debate. Mr Jonathan Pleat followed with a summary of his career in clinically orientated research and showed how molecular science good be translated into direct benefit at the bedside for patients. Students were given ideas about how they could get involved in different sorts of research projects throughout their undergraduate career.

Mr Timothy Burge guided the undergraduates through the notoriously competitive application system and gave an insight in to the areas of the CV that might stand out in such an application. Medical students had the opportunity at the end of the day to interrogate current registrars about their experiences and any suggestions that they had about getting ahead at any early stage.

Reconstructive surgical skills sessions were running throughout the day with registrars from the Severn Deanery providing tuition to the students. This year the skills sessions were tailored to the varying grades of undergraduates and students were given the opportunity to sign up to different sessions. Basic skills stations included an introduction to suturing and the design of the z-plasty, a trusted technique used often in plastic surgery to elongate scars. Advanced skills stations included tendon repair using pig trotters and the design of rotational rhomboid flaps on the face, simulated using foam pads and human skulls (see Figure 1). Howard Chu from the University of Bristol won the surgical skills prize.

15 students had prepared poster presentations with topics including case reports, the history of plastic surgery, systematic reviews and even some novel operative ideas. The posters were on display during the break periods and authors had the opportunity to discuss their projects (see Figure 2). Ian Haigh from the University of Birmingham won the prize for the best poster with his submission ‘Analysis of cosmetic results of metopic synostosis: concordance and inter-observer variability’.

Feedback from the day suggested it was a huge success with students commenting particularly that they felt inspired to get involved with undergraduate plastic surgery projects and that they had learnt new surgical skills. By tailoring the surgical skills sessions to students' prior experience, learning objectives could be more accurately modelled, allowing each student to maximise their learning and development.

Acknowledgements
We would like to thank Gemma Adlington for her tremendous help with the organisation of the event. We would also like to thank the sponsors of the event: The Medical Defence Union (MDU), Smith and Nephew, Ethicon, Association of Surgeons in Training, The Centre for Comparative and Clinical Anatomy at the University of Bristol and TULIP Ltd Abattoir at Westerleigh.

Matt Fell (Academic Foundation Year 2), Chris Davis (Plastic Surgery Registrar), Umraz Khan (Chair, BAPRAS Education Committee) Course Convenors