RCS BREAST EDUCATIONAL AND TRAINING PORTFOLIO

Introduction

High quality education and training is vital for high quality patient care and improved patient outcomes.
The breast education and training portfolio was established in 1996 to provide structured specialist breast training to support the growing demand for specialist breast surgeons. The portfolio focuses on developing a sound knowledge and skills base which is then reinforced and extended in clinical practice and training. There is a strong emphasis on developing clinical judgment and a holistic approach to patient care. 

Overview
Courses are regularly refined or developed to reflect new research and evidence as well as 'hot topics'. In addition a seamless rolling programme has been developed to support the emergence and integration of oncoplastic techniques into breast surgery. Enthusiastic faculty is drawn from the whole multidiscipline breast team to include national/international opinion leaders and educators as well as senior trainees from the mammary fold trainees group. 

The RCS programme is complemented by other courses supported by the Association of Breast Surgery (for example the Glasgow trainees meeting, Oncoplastic master classes, Bristol breast ultrasound course etc) 

Multiprofessional Education
(Advanced nurse practitioner, breast clinician, radiographer etc) As patient care becomes competence based and team delivered professional boundaries/ groups are merging. To reflect these changes core aspects of breast education and training programme are being adapted to meet other professional needs as well as those of the trainee surgeon. 

MMC and Breast specialty specific training
Currently breast training is obtained through the general surgery training programme. It is likely specialist breast training will start in SY3/4 and run parallel with general/emergency surgery training until CCT. The breast tutors are developing a detailed breast curriculum and syllabus and reworking the education and training portfolio to reflect the new syllabus requirements. This work will be the platform for specialty specific training and assessment if breast obtains specialty recognition and its own SAC. 

NEW START SLNB training programme
NEW START SLNB training programme officially closed on December 31st 2009. Over 80% of UK breast surgeons have completed SLN training and the use of SLNB in early breast cancer is increasingly steadily every year. The 2007-8 NHSBSP audit demonstrated nearly 45% of screen detected cancers are now offered the procedure. 

Future SLN training
SLN training courses will continue to be offered by Mr Mo Keshtgar and his team at the Royal Free Hospital (m.keshtgar@ucl.ac.uk) but formal validation and certification has now ceased. In view of the large numbers of trained surgeons now available and the incorporation of SLNB as the standard of care for early breast cancer into most units it should be possible for any remaining untrained surgeons/trainees to obtain training in their local units by following the apprenticeship model IE 30 supervised cases of stand alone SLNB with appropriate data collection. We recommend all surgeons keep their individual data/logbooks for future scrutiny and revalidation. 

Surgeons in NEW START validation phase
Please populate the following templates to Miss Fiona MacNeill. Fiona will be pleased to review your data and arrange certification. 

Template of data
NEW START Audit Report
NEW START Summary data

Contacts
If you have any questions or problems regarding SLN training (for example you have no locally trained surgeon/your breast unit is SLNB naive) please do not hesitate to contact Fiona MacNeill by email or contact Monika Bell at the Royal College of Surgeons Department of Education 

For further information on any of theses courses contact the RCS Education Department on 020 7869 6300. To view the current programme of courses please click here.