Since the MRCS exams have been done and swept under the carpet, my focus has been ticking all those other academic boxes for attending courses/conferences and presenting my projects at them, particularly closed-loop audits (Clinical Governance - light bulb moment!).
It's worth spending your downtime periods, scouring the various specialty websites for a list of there events, and deadlines for abstract submissions. I've realised more and more of my abstracts, are more abstract! Yet, they get accepted; admittedly, before I've even collated the data.
No one really pays attention. Afterall, with the 100's of journals out there willing to accept any substandard publication, you're guaranteed a poster/publication eventually. It's a self-necessitating wheel. In order to progress in surgery, we have to publish/present. In order to publish/present, we have to complete an audit. In order to complete an audit, we have to carry some sort of nonsense excercise whether it is important or not.
Welcome to the future of Clinical Governance I say!
