Exposure to the field of renal transplantation during undergraduate medical education in the UK

In October 2004 a questionnaire was sent to the clinical deans of all UK medical schools regarding undergraduate exposure to renal transplantation.Twenty-five replies were received, giving a response rate of 96%. All but one school had a centre for renal transplantation in their region. Three schools (12%) gave no formal lecture or tutorial on the subject during the entire course. Of the remainder, between one to four formal sessions were provided, ranging from 15 minutes to 3 hours duration.Six medical schools (24%) provided no compulsory clinical exposure to renal transplantation, with a further five (20%) saying that students may receive exposure by chance. The average length of attachment was three weeks. Twenty-one medical schools (84%) provided between 1–10% of students a choice to study renal transplantation, as part of electives and special study modules.This study reveals a variation between, and within, medical schools in the levels of formal teaching. If the trends in recruitment to renal transplantation are to be reversed, we have an obligation to improve upon the medical education that students currently receive.Renal transplantation is the first choice treatment for many patients with end-stage renal failure, with the potential for improved quality of life and increased life expectancy [1,2]. However, in the UK, the speciality suffers from a lack of qualified surgeons with a predicted shortage, in 1999, of over twenty consultant renal transplant surgeons by the year 2005 [3]. The most recent figures have shown that of the 94 renal transplant consultant posts in the UK, 12 are filled by locums [4].Previous work has highlighted the multiple factors that deter surgical trainees from the speciality, which include a lack of exposure to the speciality, at an early stage during training [3]. This has lead to a call for the inclusion of transplantation within basic surgical training rotation programmes.Last year a crisis meeting, organised by the British Trans