Leonardo Da Vinci Award for training excellence.

The profession is in the process of defining the Why, What and How of surgical training. In some areas, it is more developed than others. However, there is a common agenda and desire to define surgical training standards. Why? Teaching has to become more efficient and at the same time effective to ensure that the surgeons of tomorrow are well equipped. There are a lot of external pressures. The main one, of course, is compliance with the European Working Time Directive. How do we train in a limited time and when the operating theatre is no longer the surgeons’ class room [1]. What? The knowledge and evidence base expected of the surgical trainee can easily be found on the intranet. A curriculum is being established across Europe and has been defined in the UK by the Intercollegiate Surgical Curriculum Programme (ISCP) www.iscp.ac.uk How? How we teach is important. The training assessment of technical skills and competency is essential. ‘The mechanism’ by which to do it has been published in many forms in the journal [1, 2]. That leaves the last question, Who? Who is the surgical trainer? What are their attributes and behaviours? A Google search for best teacher proffers many sites that espouse the attributes of a good teacher. These people bring passion, creativity, flexibility and curiosity to the role. The most effective educators also bring themselves to the job and can celebrate successes. They show compassion and connection with students by telling their own stories of training. The European Association for Cardio-Thoracic Surgery initiated the Leonardo Award for Training Excellence in 2011. The aim was to identify such individuals in the surgical arena. Awards of this nature have been established by other Societies. The SCTS have the Socrates Award. Eleven years ago, the author initiated the Silver Scalpel Award for the Association of Surgeons in Training, UK. The Leonardo Da Vinci Award for Training Excellence was adapted and borrowed from lessons learnt from the Silver Scalpel Award. The 2011 Leonardo Da Vinci Award for Training Excellence involved four stages.