On March 19, a joint accreditation panel from the Royal College of Surgeons of Edinburgh (RCSEd) and the Hong Kong College of Surgeons (HKCS) conducted an accreditation inspection for the Joint Surgical Fellowship (JSF) Training Base of General Surgery at Beijing Tsinghua Changgung Hospital, Tsinghua University.
Beijing Tsinghua Changgung Hospital was first accredited as a surgeon training base of the Royal College of Surgeons of Edinburgh and Hong Kong College of Surgeons in 2020. Since then, more than a dozen outstanding young physicians have been selected to participate in the training program. The initiative aims to introduce internationally advanced surgical training systems and assessment standards, and advance the internationalization of clinical medical education and physician training at Tsinghua University. Participants who pass the first phase of assessment will obtain the qualification of Member of the Royal College of Surgeons (MRCS), and those who complete the second phase of training will be awarded the title of Fellow of the Royal College of Surgeons (FRCS).
The accreditation inspection was conducted by a panel of experts, including Professor Kwok-leung CHEUNG, Lead of General Surgery for the JSF Program at RCSEd; Senior Assessor Professor Douglas MCWHINNIE; Dr. Sau-Kwan CHU, President of the Hong Kong College of Surgeons; Professor Chi-Fai NG, Vice President of HKCS; and Dr. Chi-Hung LAU, Chief Examiner of HKCS.
Academician Dong Jiahong, President of Beijing Tsinghua Changgung Hospital; Professor Wu Weiwei, Vice President for Medical Education; Professor Liu Fang, Director of the Education Department; Associate Professor Liu Huawei, Deputy Director of the Education Department and Director of the Clinical Skills Training Center; Professor Luo Bin, Principal of the JSF Program and Academic Director of General Surgery; together with the program tutor team and current trainees, welcomed the accreditation panel.
On behalf of the hospital, Academician Dong Jiahong extended a warm welcome and sincere gratitude to the panel experts. He noted that the JSF program accreditation serves as a crucial platform for aligning the hospital’s surgical teaching and training system with international standards.
Professor Wu Weiwei presided over the JSF accreditation meeting and delivered a welcome address. He stated: "The development of surgery is rooted in rigorous and standardized professional training. As one of the world’s most prestigious professional bodies for surgical training, the Royal College of Surgeons of Edinburgh has long played a leading role in the field. The Hong Kong College of Surgeons has established a mature and standardized training system across Asia. The philosophies and practices of the two colleges in surgical talent development have always set a benchmark for us to learn from."
Professor Luo Bin delivered a special report to the inspection panel, presenting a comprehensive overview of the training base’s operational achievements, covering the hospital’s profile, discipline development, faculty team building, as well as the training systems for resident physicians and specialist physicians.
Professor Kwok-leung CHEUNG delivered a speech on behalf of the accreditation panel. He briefly introduced the background and objectives of the JSF accreditation program, pointing out that the program is designed to drive continuous improvement and quality enhancement of surgical training through rigorous international standard evaluation. Dr. Sau-Kwan CHU further emphasized the importance of standardized and structured curricula as well as rigorous procedural assessments in surgical training. She expressed the hope that through in-depth exchanges and on-site inspections, the panel could gain a fuller understanding of the hospital’s practical exploration and phased achievements in general surgery training.
In the subsequent on-site inspection session, the panel experts held in-depth group interviews with program tutors and current trainees to learn in detail about the trainees’ working and learning environment, training content, faculty guidance, and supporting services. They also conducted a field visit to the hospital premises and the Clinical Skills Training Center.
During the feedback session, the expert panel fully recognized the operational effectiveness of the MRCS training program at Beijing Tsinghua Changgung Hospital, affirming that the hospital has explored a feasible implementation pathway while adopting international standards. They also spoke highly of the hospital’s development of teaching facilities. The panel hoped that the program would recruit more physicians in the future, enabling this international training platform to benefit a greater number of young physicians. Meanwhile, the delegation put forward constructive suggestions regarding curriculum training, procedural assessment, and trainee benefits.
On behalf of the hospital, Professor Wu Weiwei thanked the experts. He stated that the hospital would carefully review the feedback suggestions, further deepen teaching reform, fully integrate MRCS and FRCS training standards, optimize evaluation and assessment mechanisms, bring training quality fully in line with international benchmarks, strengthen the development of an international faculty team, improve incentive mechanisms, provide comprehensive support for the whole-process training of trainees, and forge a path for surgical talent cultivation with distinctive Tsinghua characteristics.
