Local student to compete in national surgical skills competition final
Posted on the 20 December 2011 in Main
Muhamad Azri Muhamad Marican won local heat at Severn Deanery House, Bristol
Muhamad Azri Muhamad Marican, a fourth year medical student from the University of Bristol has won the Severn heat of a nationwide surgical skills competition run by The Royal College of Surgeons of Edinburgh (RCSEd), and will now go to the Grand Final in Edinburgh where he will compete to win a trip to Johnson & Johnson’s skills centre in Hamburg, Germany.
The Lister Surgical Skills Competition has been organised by RCSEd in association with Johnson & Johnson Medical Companies to commemorate the life and contribution of Lord Joseph Lister, 100 years after his death. A former Fellow of RCSEd, Lister was world-renowned for his groundbreaking work in the prevention of wound infection, which contributed greatly to the advancement of surgical standards and led to Lister becoming known as ‘the father of modern surgery’.
The skills competition has brought medical students from across the UK together to demonstrate their surgical skills in a series of heats over the last two months, as they attempted to reach the Grand Final of the competition, which takes place in Edinburgh on 11 February 2012 as part of the Lister Centenary Celebrations. Azri and the other regional heat winners are being provided with a travel and accommodation package to come to the College for the Final. As the principal sponsor of the Lister Centenary Celebrations, Johnson & Johnson is offering the prize of a trip to its European Surgical Training Institute in Hamburg for the overall winner, with The Royal Society of Medicine (RSM) awarding the runner-up with free student membership until they qualify as a doctor.
At the Severn heat, 10 students with an interest in pursuing a career in surgery competed in four surgical skills tests: knot-tying, suturing, cyst removal and surgical instrument identification. Selina Khan was the runner-up, winning a year’s student membership of RSM. All participants received a year’s student affiliation to RCSEd.
The Severn heat was run by Professor Davinder Sandhu, who is RCSEd’s Regional Surgical Adviser for the area and is the Postgraduate Dean for Severn. Explaining more, he said:
“To improve patient outcomes, we need to nurture the next generation of champions who hopefully will become the leaders of our profession. To this extent I am pleased that The Royal College of Surgeons of Edinburgh created the Lister initiative and the Bristol medical students and local faculty responded enthusiastically.”
Commenting on his victory, Azri said:
“I believe this competition will help my career by the early exposure to surgery it has given me in terms of developing suturing skills and knowledge of some of the instruments used in surgery. Although it was challenging being unsure what criteria were being assessed and what to expect from the competition, I really enjoyed it and made new friends.
A benefit of affiliating with RCSEd is being kept informed on what opportunities are available and offered to medical students to help me with future surgical career ambitions and I’m really excited to have the opportunity to continue to the next round - it is motivation for me to work hard and hopefully win the Grand Final!”