Providing a specialty trainee teaching programme over long distances Euan MacDonald, Laura Nicol and Irfan Ahmed, Department of General Surgery, NHS Grampian, Aberdeen Royal Infirmary, Aberdeen, UK SUMMARY Background: Today’s teaching programmes must be interesting, relevant to the surgical curricu- lum, as defined in the UK by the Intercollegiate Surgical Curricu- lum Programme (ISCP), and attractive enough to the trainee so that they encourage atten- dance without compromising operative experience. Methods: Our aim was to achieve the objectives of the ISCP and to provide high-quality teaching to the trainees. We devised a 2- year rolling programme of events to cover the knowledge and skills required for general surgi- cal training for both the Mem- bership of the Royal College of Surgeons (MRCS) and Fellowship of the Royal College of Surgeons (FRCS) examinations. For the trainees unable to attend be- cause of on-call commitments, we developed online course material, creating our own vir- tual learning environment (VLE). Attendance at training days, website use and exam pass rates were monitored. We surveyed trainees annually to identify whether the teaching was meet- ing their needs. Results: There were 100 per cent pass rates for FRCS clinical and viva examinations, with 16 out of the 16 candidates passing on their first attempt and one gold medal awarded. Discussion: Our attendance rates show that it is possible to provide well-attended sessions despite modern working patterns. The production of a yearly teaching plan with identified topics and dates allowed trainees to maximise their attendance. It is possible to provide well- attended sessions despite modern working patterns Challenges of location 374 Ó 2013 John Wiley & Sons Ltd. THE CLINICAL TEACHER 2013; 10: 374–378