We spoke to Baljit Singh, Consultant Surgeon and Honorary Associate Professor at the University Hospitals of Leicester, about the educational support available for coloproctology professionals during the COVID-19 pandemic.
Baljit, also a long-standing member of ESCP’s Education Committee, encourages the use of online training tools and educational resources during this time of uncertainty, which ESCP members can easily access:
“As conferences and workshops stall and universities close their doors around the world, it’s important that we familiarise ourselves with the invaluable online educational tools and support we have at our fingertips.
“ESCP’s primary education resource is the extensive Resource Library which currently holds over 1,000 expert papers and high-quality video lectures from our annual conferences. Recently revamped and split between focused divisions of coloproctology, users can easily navigate their way through a diverse range of research papers, presentations and guidelines or simply search for a specific topic or speaker on a desktop or mobile device. Members will also have access to all chapters of the 2nd Edition of the European Manual of Medicine: Coloproctology which is a fantastic resource. The resource library is regularly updated.
“Another valuable tool is CREST, an exciting and dynamic online learning program which ESCP developed in partnership with ASCRS, offering numerous beneficial features including topics arranged by six pillars of colorectal disease: perioperative, malignancy, anorectal disease, benign disease, pelvic floor and miscellaneous.
“Each topic offers learning materials in a variety of mediums, such as narrated presentations, videos, journal articles and book chapters, to encourage learning in the ways users find most helpful. A post-assessment and evaluation are available after the user completes the required content in each topic.
“Now is very much the time to maximise these opportunities and drive our learning and development. These educational resources can simply be accessed via the ESCP website or the ESCP App, which can be downloaded from all App stores.”
In the future, the Education Committee will be uploading more educational content, as well as producing standardised educational videos on surgical techniques and interactive webinars.
ESCP has added a specific COVID-19 page to the website which will be populated with relevant information and learnings over the coming months. Join in the conversation through our social media channels using the #COVID19ESCP hashtag.
