How to conduct a successful workshop: The trainees’ perspective

OBJECTIVES: To define the success of a medical workshop from the trainees’ perspective, where a medical workshop is a scientific event with the aim of presenting updated knowledge and to teach medical skills to the participants. In surgical specialties, it contributes to the development and maintenance of surgical skills. METHODS: Medline was searched for the previous 4 months to identify articles with combinations of the keywords ‘workshops’, ‘training’, ‘simulators’, and ‘virtual reality’. Further articles were obtained by manually searching the reference lists of identified papers. We also obtained information and critical aspects of view from other trainees. RESULTS: Based on 30 articles from the Medline search, and mostly from the trainees’ perspective, we present the basic characteristics of a successful workshop. The objective of the workshop, appropriate faculty members and presenters, highly motivated participants, the use of simulators and evaluation sheets, the venue and the registration fees all have a major role in the success of a workshop. CONCLUSIONS: A successful workshop is that from which trainees have grasped most of the knowledge and skills imparted to them, with a positive progression reflected on their learning curve. Workshops are a current necessity and all efforts should be made to achieve the desired result from the trainees’ perspective.