(Author / P.L.ZHAO & Q.X.LIANG Reviewed by / Y.C.YU) On March 19, a joint delegation from the Royal College of Surgeons of Edinburgh (RCSEd) and the College of Surgeons of Hong Kong (CSHK) visited Beijing Tsinghua Changgung Hospital to conduct an accreditation review of the General Surgery Base for the Joint Surgical Fellowship (JSF) program.
The hospital was initially accredited as a surgical training base by the Royal College of Surgeons of Edinburgh (RCSEd) and the College of Surgeons of Hong Kong (CSHK) in 2020. Since then, it has selected over ten outstanding early-career surgeons to take part in the program, with the goal of introducing internationally advanced surgical training systems and assessment standards to further the internationalization of clinical medical education and physician training at Tsinghua University. Upon passing the first part of the assessment, trainees are awarded Membership of the Royal College of Surgeons (MRCS); those who complete the second stage of training are eligible to receive the Fellowship of the Royal College of Surgeons (FRCS).
The accreditation review was conducted by a panel of experts including Professor Kwok-leung CHEUNG, Lead of General Surgery (JSF) at the Royal College of Surgeons of Edinburgh; Professor Douglas MCWHINNIE, Senior Examiner of the Royal College of Surgeons of Edinburgh; Dr. Chu Sau Kwan, President of the College of Surgeons of Hong Kong; Professor Ng Chi Fai, Vice President of the College of Surgeons of Hong Kong; and Dr. Lau Chi Hung, Chief Examiner of the College of Surgeons of Hong Kong.
Academician Dong Jiahong, President of the hospital; Professor Wu Weiwei, Vice President for Academic Affairs; Professor Liu Fang, Director of the Department of Medical Education; Associate Professor Liu Huawei, Deputy Director of the Department of Medical Education and Director of the Clinical Skills Training Center; Professor Luo Bin, General Surgery JSF Program Lead and Academic Director of General Surgery; as well as the program’s mentors and trainees, warmly welcomed the review panel.
Academician Dong Jiahong, on behalf of the hospital, delivered a warm welcome and heartfelt appreciation to the visiting delegation. He stressed that the successful accreditation of the JSF program marks a crucial milestone, effectively bridging the gap between the hospital’s surgical training framework and global benchmarks.
Professor Wu Weiwei chaired the JSF accreditation meeting and noted in his welcome address, "The development of surgical medicine is rooted in rigorous and standardized professional training. As one of the world’s most prestigious professional institutions for surgical training, the Royal College of Surgeons of Edinburgh has always played an important leading role; the College of Surgeons of Hong Kong, for its part, has established a mature and standardized training system in Asia. The concepts and practices of these two colleges in surgical talent cultivation have always been role models for us to learn from and benchmark against." Professor Luo Bin delivered a special report to the review panel, presenting a comprehensive overview of the operation effectiveness of the training base, covering the hospital’s general situation, disciplinary development, faculty team, as well as the training systems for resident physicians and specialist physicians.
Professor Kwok-leung CHEUNG addressed the meeting on behalf of the review panel. He outlined the background and objectives of the JSF accreditation program, noting that it aims to drive continuous improvement and quality enhancement in surgical training through rigorous international standards. Dr. CHU Sau Kwan further underscored the importance of standardized, structured curricula and rigorous process-based assessments in surgical training, expressing hope that this in-depth exchange and review would offer deeper insight into the hospital’s practical efforts and progress in general surgery training.
Subsequently, the review panel conducted in-depth interviews with the training program’s mentors and trainees in groups, gaining a detailed understanding of the trainees’ working and learning environment, training content, faculty guidance, support and guarantee, and other related aspects. They also conducted on-site inspections of the hospital environment and the Clinical Skills Training Center.
In their feedback, the review panel highly commended the effectiveness of the MRCS training program at Beijing Tsinghua Changgung Hospital, noting that it has forged a feasible pathway for implementation while incorporating international standards. They also spoke highly of the hospital’s construction of teaching conditions and expressed hope that more physicians would be recruited to the program, allowing this international training platform to benefit a greater number of young surgeons. Meanwhile, the review panel offered constructive recommendations regarding curriculum training, process assessment, and trainee benefits.
On behalf of the hospital, Professor Wu Weiwei expressed gratitude to the review panel and stated that the feedback would be carefully studied to further deepen educational reform. He emphasized that the hospital would continue to introduce MRCS and FRCS training standards, optimize assessment and evaluation systems, promote the alignment of training quality with international standards, strengthen the construction of an international faculty team, improve incentive mechanisms, provide sufficient guarantee for the whole-process training of trainees, and explore a pathway for surgical physician training with Tsinghua characteristics.