Scalpel would like to welcome you to our brand new blog, titled SurgicalTALK. This is a forum for individuals at any stage of their career, from students to consultants, to discuss any topic of interest related to Surgery. Our aim is to involve a wide range of authors and give opportunity to anyone interested in writing about anything Surgery to appear on our website. Topics could be anything from ‘My first surgical attachment’, or about observing an interesting procedure, to ethical debates, career development, the future of surgery, etc.

We hope that SurgicalTALK will be a great read for all budding surgeons and that you may even be interested in developing or exercising your own writing skills by sending us something of your own. In exchange for your invaluable effort to contribute to our blog, you will receive a certificate from our society and will be able to showcase your piece to any colleagues you might wish to impress. In order for you to do so, you can contact us on our email info@scalpelmanchester.com with a synopsis of no more than 250 words, describing what you will be writing about. The piece itself can be anything from 500 to 1500 words long, and can include graphics, tables and images, provided they are clearly referenced if not your own. Remember, this is not an academic blog and the more creative you get – the more likely you are to get published on our website!

We will start off with a post from Mr Omar Mirza, Mr Moez Zeiton and Dr Nimisha Vallabh. They have kindly compiled a guide on preparing yourself for applying for Core training and Specialty training jobs. We have no doubt it will be incredibly useful to you all and would like to thank the authors for an excellent opening to our new website section!