1158 The Impact of COVID-19 on Cardiothoracic Surgical Training- an Insight from the GMC National Training Surveys

Abstract Background Coronavirus disease (COVID-19) leads to a significant impact to the cardiothoracic surgical practice and training. The number of procedures logged by trainees in the esurgical logbook is yet return to the pre-pandemic level. The GMC national training surveys was first started in 2006, with an aim to determine the quality of the national training standard. We aimed to evaluate cardiothoracic trainees’ satisfaction pre and post pandemic and determine the impact of COVID-19 on cardiothoracic surgical training. Method The national training survey report in cardiothoracic surgery from 2018 to 2022 was obtained from the General Medical Council website. Both trainees and trainers’ survey were included for analysis. Overall satisfaction for both trainees and trainer were compared pre (2018,2019) and post (2021, 2022) pandemic. Results Thirty cardiothoracic centres are included in this study. There is a significant reduction in trainee satisfaction pre and post pandemic (76.82 vs 74.53, p= 0.019). However, no differences in trainers’ overall satisfaction were found (67.41 vs 70.41, p=0.52). There was a low correlation between trainee and trainers’ satisfaction pre and post pandemic. Conclusions There was a significant impact of COVID-19 on cardiothoracic trainee satisfaction. Individual hospital and deanery should reflect on trainees’ evaluation on the national training surveys report and improve on specific areas if deemed unsatisfactory.