Developing research potential and building partnerships: a report of the fundamentals of surgical research course at the College of Surgeons of East, Central, and Southern Africa

Abstract

Background Approximately a decade after the inaugural Fundamentals of Surgical Research Course (FSRC) at the West African College of Surgeons meeting (2008), the Association for Academic Surgery expanded the course offering to the annual meeting of the College of Surgeons of East, Central and Southern Africa (COSECSA). After the second annual offering of the course in 2019, participants were surveyed to assess the impact of the course. Methods A survey was distributed to the attendees of the 2019 second COSECSA FSRC course, held in December 2019 in Kampala, Uganda. Approximately 80 people attended at least a portion of the full-day course. Forty-nine participants completed the voluntary survey questionnaire distributed to assess each session of the course at course completion. Results Ten different countries were represented among the attendees. Of the 49 evaluations, 35 respondents were male and six were female. Eight respondents did not identify a gender. Surgical residents comprised 19 of the 49 attendees, and one of the 49 attendees was a medical student. Thirty-five respondents indicated that their views of surgical research had changed after attending the course. Conclusions The second annual FSRC at COSECSA confirmed significant interest in building research skills and partnerships in sub-Saharan Africa. A wide variety of learners attended the course, and a majority of the sessions received overwhelmingly positive feedback. Multiple conference attendees expressed interest in serving as faculty for the course moving forward, highlighting a viable path for sustainability as the Association for Academic Surgery develops an international research education platform.