LEADING SURGICAL

EDUCATION

About BJS Academy


It is essential for surgeons to engage in life-long learning to provide patients with the best available treatments.

Divided into five sections, BJS Academy is an online education resource that supports the professional development of current and future surgeons worldwide by championing research and collaboration.

Continuing surgical education


Committing to a career in surgery means keeping abreast of medical and surgical progress throughout 20–30 years.

Continuing surgical education summarises advances in various subspecialties, as well as providing lectures and vodcasts on topics of interest. If you wish to pursue formal credentialling or educational training courses, you can find out more about the BJS Institute’s collaboration with the University of Edinburgh.

2025 Swiss Society of Surgery BJS Lecture: Cultivating excellence - a fireside chat

2025 Swiss Society of Surgery BJS Lecture: Cultivating excellence - a fireside chat

Ellen Petry Leanse in conversation with Dr Rebecca Kraus for the BJS Lecture "Cultivating excellence: a fireside chat" at the 2025 Swiss Society of Surgery's annual meeting.

25 September 2025
2025 ASGBI BJS Lecture: The science of changing clinical practice and culture

2025 ASGBI BJS Lecture: The science of changing clinical practice and culture

Dana Telem presents her BJS Lecture "The science of changing clinical practice and culture" from the 2025 Association of Surgeons of Great Britain and Ireland (ASGBI) International Surgical Congress.

15 September 2025

Young BJS


Dedicated to and managed by surgeons in training, Young BJS offers everything a trainee could need to supplement and expand upon their core learning.

Focusing on the importance of surgical research, it gives trainees the opportunity to read and critique research, design surgical projects and optimise their chances of being published in peer-reviewed journals.

Essay competition: my most rewarding day as a surgical trainee

Essay competition: my most rewarding day as a surgical trainee

Have you had a moment in your training that reminded you exactly why you chose surgery? A day that made you feel proud and inspired?
Now is your chance to share that story with the surgical community — and win some fantastic prizes.
The “My most rewarding day as a surgical trainee” essay competition is now open!

16 August 2025

Cutting edge blog


Globally recognised journals, BJS and BJS Open, deliver a wealth of quality materials surrounding surgical science and learning.

The Cutting edge blog offers commentary and opinion pieces about published papers, journal clubs and debates for regular readers of the Foundation’s journals, as well as summary digests of other recent surgical publications.

Team design as innovation in perioperative care: the case of HPB anesthesiology

Team design as innovation in perioperative care: the case of HPB anesthesiology

Julie Hallet, MD MSC, Naheed Jivraj, MD MSc

Change takes time – in all fields, including surgery. Yet, innovation is highly prized. The latest tools and technologies are celebrated and heavily invested in. But not all improvements require new technology.
For example, robotic pancreatic surgery is being adopted worldwide at a cost of millions in capital investment and ongoing expenses. Evidence shows it is mostly non-inferior to the standard of care.1–4 Another example is histotripsy for liver tumors, which has been rapidly purchased across multiple centers since FDA approval in 2023, spreading like mushrooms after the rain. Evidence is limited to technical feasibility, with no proof of superiority over standard care.5 Both technologies are used only in selected patients. By contrast, high-volume anesthesiology care for hepato-pancreato-biliary (HPB) surgery is associated with15% lower odds of 90-day major morbidity (OR 0.85, 95% CI 0.76–0.94), requires no capital investment, no recurring costs, and applies to all patients.
We are not debating or questioning the benefits of these technologies or the need to invest in new treatments. Rather, we would like to ask: if we are so willing to spend vast sums on new technology, why are we far less inclined to redesign how operative teams are organized?

23 September 2025
Comment on: Ultra-low dose superparamagnetic iron oxide nanoparticle injection for sentinel lymph node detection in breast cancer: prospective cohort study

Comment on: Ultra-low dose superparamagnetic iron oxide nanoparticle injection for sentinel lymph node detection in breast cancer: prospective cohort study

Lielong Yang, Yuzhou Zhu

Correspondence to: Yuzhou Zhu (e-mail: Zhuyuzhou@scu.edu.cn)
Colorectal Cancer Center
Department of General Surgery

18 September 2025

Scientific surgery


Designed to help the busy surgeon keep up to date, Scientific surgery provides succinct summaries of new and interesting information collated from leading surgical journals and digital media.

Surgical news


Exploring topics relevant to both surgeons and people without medical training, Surgical news is accessible to everyone.

Many patients seek reliable information on the best treatments for surgical diseases, whilst others have a general interest in reading quality articles about surgeons and surgical practice.

Who said nil-by-mouth?

Who said nil-by-mouth?

Dr Helgi Johannsson

“Is the patient nil-by-mouth”?
A few months ago, I anaesthetised a patient for a routine operation. He was nervous, as many of them are, and had made the decision to forego his evening meal the night before surgery, and drink nothing after 6pm the previous day in order to be “extra safe” for his anaesthetic. When he told me, I responded with an outward smile and an inward eye-roll, popped out and came back with a glass of apple juice for him to drink, and a gentle explanation of how prolonged fasting is actually bad for his recovery.
Aspiration under anaesthesia is extremely rare in Europe, but it’s difficult to get accurate figures. Incidence for elective cases is around 1:5000 to 1:10,000. According to a UK Royal College of Anaesthetists audit, obstetrics is even lower with only 12 cases between 2013-2016, equating to around 5 cases per million pregnancies.

26 September 2025
BJS Bookshelf: Atomic Habits by James Clear

BJS Bookshelf: Atomic Habits by James Clear

Dr Wissam Benhami

Forget “New year, new me.” Atomic Habits by James Clear isn’t about wishful resolutions or grand transformations. It’s about the quiet power of small actions that compound into radical change. The central thesis?
“You don’t rise to the level of your goals. You fall to the level of your systems.”

18 September 2025

BJS Academy team


The talented team behind the Academy bring a wealth of knowledge and experience to their roles.

The Academy website is managed by IT partners, River Valley Technologies, a Content Management team coordinated by ACS Global and a BJS Academy Board managed by Robert Hinchliffe.

Editor in Chief

Editor in Chief


Robert Hinchliffe manages and coordinates the activities of BJS Academy.

Editor in Chief

BJS Academy Board


Supporting the Editor in Chief, this team creates the Academy’s educational resources.

Editor in Chief

Management team


This team supports the Editor in Chief to deliver the strategy and manage the delivery of the Academy.