Despite the unforeseen circumstances over the past couple of months, the Department of Clinical Experience kicked off the new academic year by organizing the first Neurosurgery Bootcamp. With the unwavering support of various neurosurgeons from the Prince of Wales Hospital, the event aimed to introduce final year medical students to the various subspecialties of Neurosurgery. With the help of surgical videos and clinical images, our students learned about the use of awake craniotomy in the resection of brain tumours, deep brain stimulation in the treatment of Parkinson’s patients and endoscopy in treating various neurosurgical diseases. Additionally, we also explored topics such as the spine, vasculature, and pediatric neurosurgical disorders. To better equip our students with knowledge regarding the neurosurgical training pathway, we were given a brief outline of the necessary training involved, whilst various staff members also shared their journeys in becoming an established neurosurgeon. For a little session of entertainment, we also had our neurosurgeons myth-bust some common TV neurosurgical scenes. Unsurprisingly, quite a number of flaws were found!
We hoped that all of our participants enjoyed the weekend bootcamp, and gained additional insight into a highly meticulous subspecialty within surgery. Looking forward to next year’s bootcamp!