Louise Murchison, a fourth year medical student, has won the West of Scotland heat of a nationwide surgical skills competition run by The Royal College of Surgeons of Edinburgh (RCSEd). She will now go to the Grand Final in Edinburgh where she will compete to win a trip to Johnson & Johnson’s skills centre in Hamburg, Germany.

Louise Murchison 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 three months which tested various surgical skills including knot-tying, suturing, cyst removal and laparoscopy.

The West of Scotland heat was run by Mr Andrew Renwick, who is RCSEd’s Regional Surgical Adviser for the area and is a Consultant Colorectal Surgeon at the Royal Alexandra Hospital, Paisley. Explaining more, he said: “This initiative is a bit of fun for the students but has a serious message that is relevant throughout surgical training. Training is paramount to ensure success and the colleges have to help guide the way in providing relevant facilities to achieve this for all surgeons in training.”

Commenting on her victory, Louise said: “I am absolutely delighted to have won a place in the Final of the Lister Centenary Surgical Skills Competition. Having lived and trained in Glasgow, it is a privilege to be able to represent the region in which Lister first pioneered the use of carbolic acid in creating a sterile surgical environment.

“As medical student, my previous surgical experience has been limited to assisting or observing in theatre. As a result, it can be difficult to determine whether you possess the manual dexterity and technical skills required to successfully pursue a career in surgery, but I hope that by making it through to the Final I have shown that I have an aptitude for surgery.

First published: 5 January 2012

<< Jan