WSES SM (World Society of Emergency Surgery Summer Meeting) highlights, education in emergency surgery

I was interested that I was asked to give a talk on education rather than training in emergency surgery. Training implies to make someone proficient at a particular task by practice or repetition whereas education means to become knowledgeable about a topic. Emergency surgery encompasses so many possible scenarios that I think we have to take a pragmatic view and aim to educate the trainees in the principles.I think everyone realises that increasing specialisation has brought problems with emergency and general surgery. There are multiple reasons for these changes including the sheer volume of medical knowledge, new technologies, and the general acceptance that practising outside of your special area of expertise is unacceptable. On top of this is the push by doctors for a better lifestyle, the demands of patients and the medicolegal environment.There have been recent documents sent out by the various surgical colleges highlighting the problems with emergency surgery. I know that in the UK there has been significant political pressure on things such as elective surgery waiting times but non-trauma emergency surgery does not really grab the headlines and does not seem to be a priority for government authorities or even surgeons themselves.So what is an emergency surgeon? Well I think that he or she must have the following attributes:Good clinical judgementGood practical skillsGood communication skillsBe decisiveReact well to stressful situationsAnd finally they must have a sound knowledge of the topic.It is my opinion that some of these attributes are difficult to teach and the selection process is critical so as to select appropriate trainees.A broad knowledge base is the obviously the cornerstone of effective practice. However the amount of information is now so vast that a surgeon cannot know it all and does need to constantly revise topics. Emergency surgery is slightly different from other medical fields as there is a need for immediate decisions and so if the s