Organising a Practical Plating Course: an unofficial guide
Author: Victoria Vincent
Organising a plating course can often feel overwhelming at first. It’s easy to not know where to start, particularly if you haven’t done it before. Over the previous 3 years, the South West have delivered a plating course on a yearly basis, attracting delegates from places as far as Northern Ireland. I have compiled an unofficial guide to help support other representatives who are wanting to organise a plating course.
1. Identify a theme and audience
First, you need to identify what type of plating course you want to deliver. Are you hoping to focus on mandibular fractures, midface or a mixture of both? Or are you wanting to delve deeper into orthognathic work, looking at BSSO and bimaxillary osteotomy? Generally speaking, most plating courses focus on the basics of fracture fixation and trauma, so it may be more difficult to organise an orthognathic workshop, however it may add some variety to the courses that are offered by the regional representatives.
You also need to consider who you are pitching the course to – with the nature of maxfacs training, you have to think about whether you want to focus on first degree students to inspire the next generation, second-degree students/FY2/DCT’s who may be considering the next step into maxfacs training or ST1/ST3 trainees. This will help support the faculty on what to discuss during their lectures and how much depth to go into during the practical part of the session.
Finally, you need to think about the length of the course – do you want to do a day or an evening? This is important to discuss with sponsors and also the consultant.
2. Finding a consultant to support you
Usually, this isn’t an issue. Consultants are often keen to help inspire the next generation of trainees and are willing to teach. Approach the consultants within the area you are hoping to deliver the course – you can find a list of supportive consultants within your region on the JTG website.
Discuss what you are hoping to achieve and who you want to deliver the course to. They may be able to provide some adjustments to your idea for the course in general. It would also be useful to identify days that would work best for your consultant so this can be discussed with your chosen sponsor representative.
Identifying other colleagues within the department to support during the day is also helpful – for example, in the South West, we often take on an additional 3-4 individuals who are happy to help, including oral surgeons or registrars. This becomes key during the practical component of the session to allow for a good faculty to delegate ratio, so delegates are able to ask questions about the kit or the principles of fracture fixation.
3. Finding a sponsor representative
For the day, you’re going to need saw bones and kit. There are a number of different companies who can help in providing this equipment – in the South West, I’ve used Synthes, however there are other firms such as KLS Martin and Stryker.
It may be that you don’t know who to contact. In which case, discussing this with your consultant may be helpful as they will have a contact for the regional representative for the kit that they use. Additionally, you can ask representatives at trade fair stands at the BAOMS and JTG conferences for their regional representative.
Once you’ve found a representative, you would need to discuss what course you want to deliver and what saw bones you need (e.g. mandibles for mandibular fracture fixation and whole skulls for midface fracture fixation). You also need to discuss how many delegates you’re planning for – in the South West, we’ve often capped numbers at 15 to allow for a good delegate to faculty ratio and adequate time with the kit.
Depending on the length of the course, the company may provide lunch – the South West often do a day long course with lunch, kindly provided by our sponsor. However, if you are organising an evening of plating, this may not be necessary.
4. Finding a date that suits the faculty
This is often where things get a bit more complex. The kit provided by the representative has to be booked out for the day you are providing the course and, often, there are other courses happening around the world who may be using the kit you need. You need to find a date that works for both the representative and the faculty. For this reason, organising the course at least 6months in advance is helpful.
5. Organise a venue
Once you have a date, you need a venue. Most trusts have an education centre with rooms you can book out. If you’ve decided that you want to organise a day long course, then it is essential you organise the course at least 6months in advance as described above, especially if it’s on a weekday. This is because if your trust takes on medical/dental/nursing students, these rooms are often booked for them. Evenings and weekends are often less of a problem for this reason.
You may want to consider having more than one room if you are doing a daylong event. In the South West, our agenda has often comprised of a morning of lectures followed by an afternoon of practical sessions. We therefore book out both a lecture room and a practical room so that the practical session can be set up whilst the lectures are being delivered.
It’s also useful to know whether you can bring food into the venue, so ask this in advance. You may be able to borrow tea and coffee facilities too, which is obviously an essential for any course!
6. Compile an agenda
This is where you finalise what you are going to deliver. It’s useful to discuss this with your consultant and faculty to see whether they’re happy about the theme of your lectures, timings and also what’s being delivered for the practical part of the session.
Regular breaks are helpful, as courses are often a way to encourage networking. Consider what snacks are available for these breaks – BAOMS have an events bursary which can help cover the cost of this. You can apply for this via the BAOMS website.
Also, remember to provide a time where your sponsor can give a talk on their kit!
7. Advertise the course
The earlier you do this, the better, as delegates need to organise study leave. Create a flyer which explains the date, time and venue for the course. Explain who the target audience is and also a brief summary of the agenda for the day. Provide a sign up form, either via google or Microsoft forms. You can advertise the course via JTG socials, around your own trust and region and also ask for the support of the JTG committee who can share your course on the website and on their Instagram.
Consider whether you want to charge for the course or charge a refundable deposit. In the South West, we don’t charge for our courses. However, it may be worth considering a refundable deposit to prevent no shows – you may need to think about, logistically, how you would achieve this (e.g. what bank account to charge this to and T&C’s of the refund).
Once you’ve identified the delegates, remember to provide information on transport to the venue and any additional parking charges.
8. Deliver
Once you’ve achieved the above, you just need to do the course! If you’ve followed the steps above, you should be fine.
Leading up to the course day, the representative will ask for an address on where to deliver the kit. The venue, particularly if it’s the trust’s education centre, will often be happy to receive the kit for the day.
For the day, remember to print a registration list so you know who has attended. Bring along some sticky labels for delegates and faculty so it’s easier for everyone to identify who has come along.
Remember to provide information on fire exits and where the toilets are within the venue as basic housekeeping.
9. Feedback and certificates
Following the day, send out a feedback form. Explain you will send out certificates following the feedback. Make sure to obtain a signature from the consultant who helped organise the course to add to the certificate too.
I hope this guide is helpful in explaining how to organise a plating course. I look forward to seeing your plating course advertised by the JTG soon!
