ISCP – Summary of Core Syllabus & Topics

August 2017

Syllabus Module Number / Generic Core Module Title / Detail of Topics
1 / Basic Sciences
(6 topics) /
  • Applied Anatomy
  • Physiology
  • Pharmacology
  • Pathology
  • Microbiology
  • Imaging

2 / Common Surgical conditions
(9 topics) /
  • Presenting Symptoms or Syndromes
  • Breast disease
  • Peripheral vascular disease
  • Cardiovascular & pulmonary disease
  • Genitourinary disease
  • Trauma & orthopaedics
  • Disease of the skin, head and neck
  • Neurology & neurosurgery
  • Endocrine

3 / Basic surgical skills /
  • Safe surgery / anaesthesia / surgical wounds / knot tying/haemostasis/ tissue handling & retraction / biopsy / drains / anastomosis / surgical endoscopy

4 / The assessment and management of the surgical patient /
  • History and examination / differential diagnosis / investigations / clinical decision making / team working / appropriate prescribing / clinical audits / consent / written and interactive clinical communication

5 / Peri-operative Care – the assessment and management of the surgical patient /
  • Pre-operative assessment & management / intra-operative and post-operative care / nutrition / haemostasis & blood products / coagulation, DVT & embolism / antibiotics / metabolic & endocrine disorders / prognosis and causes of delirium

6 / Assessment and management of patients with trauma /
  • Scoring systems & triage / shock / wounds soft tissue injuries / burns / fractures / organ specific trauma

7 / Surgical care of Paediatric patient /
  • Assess & manage children with surgicalproblems plus similarities & differences to the adult patientand to understand the issues of child protection

8 / Management of the dying patient /
  • Manage the dying patient appropriately / understand consent & ethical issues in DNAR patients / palliative care / principles of organ donation

9 / Organ and tissue transplantation /
  • Understand the principles of organ donation and tissue transplantation

10 / Health promotion
(4 topics) /
  • General aspects of health promotion
  • Obesity
  • Dementia
  • Exercise and physical fitness

Professional behaviours and leadership / Good clinical care / being a good communicator / teaching and training / keeping up to date / manager / promoting good health / probity and ethics