2nd Edition of Gynecology World Conference 2027

Abstract

Background: Leadership and management are increasingly vital skills in the modern National Health Service (NHS). The NHS long term plan highlights clinical leadership as an important part of the future trajectory of the NHS¹, with doctors and allied health professionals developing their roles to bridge the traditional gap between clinical and management staff.

The Royal College of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists highlights leadership in the curriculum; two of the 14 Capabilities in Practice (3 and 8) focus on elements of leadership and supervision. One example of this for resident doctors is coordinating local meetings, including multidisciplinary team meetings.

Aims and Methods: There is little published data on trainee experiences of MDM leadership. We aimed to assess whether trainees find it a valuable experience, and in particular the impact on their long term leadership skills.

We asked the trainees who have undertaken the coordination of our local benign gynae multidisciplinary meeting (MDM) in the preceding five years to complete a survey to assess the impact of organising the MDM on their leadership and management skills. 

Results: Responses were obtained from all four trainees. All trainees felt that the experience of organising the MDM had improved their knowledge of benign gynaecology management, as well as their organisational and leadership skills. The improvement in their self rated skill can be seen graphically. 

The questionnaire also had white space questions for trainees to give qualitative feedback on their experiences of organising the MDM. Feedback included the following:

‘Yes, I found that having the monthly responsibility of gynae MDT to organise was a good stimulus to actively developing my leadership and management skills, including taking on a special interest module in leadership and management.’

‘Yes, it improved my confidence with management and delegation’

Discussion: Results of our survey have shown that over the years, trainees at our trust have consistently found organising the benign gynae MDM to be a valuable experience, which improves their clinical and leadership skills. Gaining leadership experience as a trainee is imperative for success in consultant interviews and in taking on the responsibilities of a consultant, however it can sometimes be difficult to seek out relevant opportunities, and to know what will be beneficial. We would recommend based on the qualitative and quantitative feedback from trainees presented above, that trainee gynaecologists apply to organise their local MDM, as a way of gaining leadership and management experience and evidencing these skills.