VERITAS : Victorian collaborative for Education, Research, Innovation, Training and
Audit by Surgical trainees
VERITAS was born from of the knowledge that high quality research informs practise. Surgeons, like other medical professionals, are encouraged to follow evidence-based practise.
Ensuring that surgical trainees have access to meaningful research experiences is crucial. Tailoring this research experience to individual trainees’ interests and aptitudes is imperative. Not all surgical trainees wish to complete a higher research degree, but surgical training mandates that all trainees gain experience, complete and present some research.
Worldwide trainees have been frustrated and disheartened by their inability to answer important and simple clinical questions adequately, usually as a result of small local studies having insufficient power to form conclusions that can influence practice.
Trainee collaboratives have paved the way for simple, clinical research questions to be answered by facilitating the recruitment of large numbers of patients. Numerous high impact publications have resulted from these studies.
Austin Surgical Trainees Education Committee (ASTEC) is the representative body for surgical trainees at the Austin-Northern Training Hub (Melbourne, Australia). To further research opportunities for trainees at Austin-Northern Training Hub, ASTEC have decided to establish VERITAS, a Victorian-based trainee-led research collaborative to carry out the large population-based studies required to answer important clinical questions relating to and informing surgical practice. VERITAS hopes to engage with trainees throughout the state of Victoria and Australia as a whole to develop meaningful, impactful surgical research projects.