This August saw the launch of the new capstone 6 credit point subject Surgical Professionalism and Leadership (SURG5100) which has been created and administered by SERT Academic Lead Dr Anthony Glover. The subject is part of the popular Master of Surgery program offered by the University of Sydney and has enrolled over 60 students who represent early years of medical training to surgical fellows and consultants representing all states of Australia.
The subject has been designed to be delivered online over the 13 week semester and features 130 hours of online lectures, webinars, workshop, discussion boards, readings and assessments. For the subject, Dr Glover commissioned Sydney Business School to adapt four weeks of teaching on Leadership based on the MBA program which has been led by Professor Kevin Lowe, Professor of Leadership and a leading member of the MBA Faculty.
In the first two weeks, webinars have explored leadership, how it is defined and how it can be developed. Coming weeks will see these concepts explored further before culminating in a one-day simulation on how leaders can lead change on a systems level. The remainder of the subject will explore Professionalism and how it can be applied and developed as
surgeons in regards to all areas of practice.
Highlights of the subject include teaching by leading Australian surgeons Dr Rhea Liang, Prof Spencer Beasley, Dr James Lee, A/Prof Claudia Di Bella, Dr Justin Gundara and RNSH Faculty including our director of Trauma Dr Geoff Healy and Dr Renee Lim, Dr Deepali Kamalapurkar, Ms Olivia Kirkland and Dr Justin Cain.
The subject will culminate in November with a virtual town hall session featuring a panel of surgeons representing the diverse nature of Australian surgery to discuss the future of surgical professionalism and leadership.
The subject is planned to run each year in semester two of the University year and more information is available at the University Website.