Surgical activity by Spanish Residents in Neurosurgery under the Training Programme in place since 1984 and changes to be implemented under the New Training Programme

The Spanish National Committee for Neurosurgery has recently approved a new training programme which will shortly replace the former programme, which dates from 1984. The object of this report was to evaluate training in neurosurgery in Spain under the extant programme as perceived by the residents themselves. Assessment of any educational shortcomings might help in designing and evaluating the new one. Secondary objects were to present and discuss the principal changes to be implemented by the new programme. A questionnaire was circulated to the entire population of Spanish neurosurgical residents nation-wide (N=62) in 2000, and this was repeated using the same group in 2001 and 2002. Residents were to answer questions concerning their experience during the reporting year and the preceding years, the results compiling information for 1996 to 2002. The questionnaire covered 72 surgical procedures listed in ascending order of complexity, with a five-point scale of surgical responsibility for each type. Responses were received from 48 residents. Spanish residents appeared to uniformly fulfil the general requirements of the former programme. The main shortcomings identified were low levels of surgical activity for certain special operations, especially functional and skull base approaches, and the absence of a logbook specific to neurosurgery. The new training programme developed by the Spanish National Committee for Neurosurgery has taken these shortcomings into consideration and has introduced major changes in order to ensure that training will be improved on an ongoing basis.