Medical students frequently have limited exposure to ENT at the undergraduate level and delivery of ENT education is variable in the medical school curriculum.Reference Lancaster, Salih and Tolley1–Reference Powell, Cooles, Carrie and Paleri3 Several articles in this month’s issue address the current state of play of surgical education in the UK, both at undergraduate level and beyond into higher surgical training.
The coronavirus disease 2019 pandemic created opportunities to innovate medical education, including use of mixed reality, simulation and online learning, including the use of live streaming and e-learning, use of artificial intelligence, cadaveric teaching and anatomical models.Reference Davies and Hampton4–Reference O’Hagan and Sunnucks10 A systematic review in this month’s issue assesses the impact of the pandemic on advances in ENT undergraduate education.Reference Davies and Hampton4 Disappointingly, despite the potential for reform following the pandemic, the authors conclude there has been no significant advancement in the provision of undergraduate medical education in the post-coronavirus-disease era. Their review highlights the need for national standardisation of undergraduate ENT education, including aligning ENT teaching with future clinical and training requirements, in keeping with work previously published in The Journal of Laryngology & Otology.Reference Hall, Jones and Hannan11
With the above in mind, McInerney et al. in this month’s issue evaluate the impact of a standardised two-week ENT educational rotational programme, incorporating professional activities, human factors and simulation on medical students’ knowledge, perceptions and career aspirations.Reference McInerney, Sexton, Roche, Donnelly and Skinner12 Such approaches may help address challenges in attracting students to surgery by enriching their educational experience. Similar initiatives for structured undergraduate ENT teaching have been published previously.Reference Wilson, Choy, Nunney, Ta, Tailor and Smith13, Reference Shah, Sheth, Abdou and Lerner14
Similarly, standardisation of ENT resident doctors’ induction, including the use of ‘bootcamps’, have been shown to be effective.Reference Morris, Burton and Owens15–Reference Dunne, Bowles and McGilligan17 A study by Guest et al. in this issue highlights the critical components of successful ENT inductions, emphasising the necessity for practical skill training and senior clinician involvement.Reference Guest, Gundle, Hyland, Khan, Grimes and Tailor18 Future induction programmes should incorporate these findings to improve resident doctor preparedness and patient safety.
According to the latest General Medical Council national training survey (2025), 61 per cent of trainees are considered to be at moderate or high risk of burnout.19 In addition, confidence among surgical trainees is decreasing, a critical skill required for complex decision making and surgical ability. A systematic review by Perkins et al. in this month’s issue set out to determine the factors that affect surgical trainees’ confidence.Reference Perkins, Steward, Allen, Dale and McLaren20 The findings highlight key areas for intervention to enhance trainees’ confidence and improve surgical training.
JONATHAN FISHMAN
ANN-LOUISE MCDERMOTT
STEPHEN JONES
Senior Editors
