Excellence in Surgical Supervision (ESS)

Excellence in Surgical Supervision (ESS) is a blended learning course run by the Royal College of Surgeons of England that builds upon the legacy of TrACE (Training and Assessment in the Clinical Environment). The course emphasises the importance of the supervision relationship and the skills that underpin excellent surgical supervision, training and assessment.

ESS is highly interactive, drawing on the experience of participants and focuses on practical guidance. It explores the key stages of the supervision journey, including learning agreements, workplace-based assessments, reports and an overview of ARCPs, as well as tools for managing both poor and excelling trainee performance. The course is mapped against the GMC Standards for the Recognition and Approval of Trainers and reviews the key features of the 2021 curriculum – Capabilities in Practice and the Generic Professional Capabilities framework.

The course is delivered as a multi-format programme combining eLearning, interactive seminars and practical activities. Attendance at the face-to-face course at the Bjorn Saven Centre (RCS England, London) is dependent on completion of preliminary eLearning delivered via the RCS England virtual learning environment. The eLearning comprises an introduction to the 2021 curriculum, educational roles and training structures, enhancing trainee performance, workplace-based assessments, ARCP, unconscious bias, and relevant documents.

Learning outcomes include the ability to describe the structure of surgical training and key educational roles, develop effective training relationships with shared expectations, write effective supervisory reports incorporating Generic Professional Capabilities terminology, describe effective workplace-based assessments and deliver constructive feedback, manage excelling and under-performing trainees, describe the Annual Review of Competence Progression (ARCP) process, and assimilate the key features of the 2021 curricula into supervisory practice.