After 17 rewarding years of educating Surgical Practitioners, Professional Education in Practice will be concluding its journey. We are deeply grateful for the trust and collaboration of all those who have been part of our story.
Please note that our final Part 2 course will take place on 10th July 2026.
Jill Biggins, Course Director
An Introduction to the Surgical First Assistant Course B - Part 2 - Extended skills for SFA’s
The Surgical First Assistant Part 2 course is aimed at qualified Surgical First Assistants who are required to further extend their practice using surgical skills (e.g.: suturing) as a regular part of their role. This course should be undertaken by a practitioner who has already completed a nationally recognised and accredited Surgical First Assistant course which has been nationally accredited.
Students will undertake this course whilst employed within an operating department and must be in a position to utilise the skills offered on the course on a regular basis in order to maintain competence. Clinical practice will be facilitated by an appointed and appropriately trained Practice Supervisor and Clinical Supervisor within the students' workplace, and will be undertaken as part of their employed work activities. Students will be expected to be assessed using the competency document provided.
Students will receive a suggested plan of topics and activities to help them organise their study time. The plan will be devised to provide direction and support related to the identified topics within the practice competencies, ensuring they receive theoretical support linked to the practice experience. Learning will be directed through teaching materials related to the indicative content provided via a dedicated website. A learning contract should be negotiated with their Practice Supervisor within the first week of commencing the course.
The Course:
This course has been developed to support the Qualified Surgical First Assistant with the opportunity to undertaken both the theoretical and practical skills course (eg: nationally recognised Key Instruction in Surgical Skills course). The programme offers qualified Surgical First Assistants the opportunity to continue developing and expanding their professional boundaries gaining the underpinning knowledge to support the clinical practice gained at the local level. This course aims to enable the Surgical First Assistant to competently undertake the additional surgical skills as an SFA, recognising the legal framework, accountability and responsibility in accordance with their professional code of conduct.
Prerequisites to attend course:
This course is aimed at Qualified Surgical First Assistants.
The course will cover:
Surgical First Assistant Part 2 course 30 credits level 6 |
- The PEP Course Documentation
- Professional & Legal Issues Related to Extending your practice
- Reflective practice
- Additional Surgical First Assistant Syllabus and Competencies related to the new skills and Portfolio of Evidence
- Principles of Langer's lines and detailed anatomy of the skin
- Maintaining haemostasis, including knot tying and the application of electrosurgery.
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- Principles and practical aspects of fixation of surgical drains
- Principles and practical aspects of local anaesthetic wound infiltration.
- Theory of superficial wound closure and potential complications
- Optional extended SFA competencies
- Extended clinical skills, including knot tying and suturing.
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Clinical Hours:
It is anticipated that the Surgical First Assistant extended their skills will need approximately 100 hours clinical practice in their new role. It is estimated that these clinical hours could be translated into 1 day (2 sessions) per week over a period of approximately 22 weeks. The total number of clinical hours an individual practitioner requires will be influenced by a number of issues.
Surgical First Assistant Extended skills Course (Part II) Portfolio of evidence
As part of the training process trainees will compile a portfolio of evidence which will be used to verify overall clinical competency. Practitioners wishing to submission of their portfolio of evidence for academic accreditation will be required to complete their University Accreditation document at the commencement of their programme when the trainee will be given a training / university identification number. On completion of the programme, the Portfolio of evidence will be submitted to PEP where the portfolio will be assessed by two educationalists anonymously using the training / university identification number.
Academic Accreditation
The programme is offered at Academic Level 6 to support the development of the portfolio of evidence reflecting the level of education and training required of the Surgical First Assistant. Successful completion and assessment of the portfolio of evidence will provide the trainee with 30 Level 6 Academic Credit rated by the University of Greenwich.
Tutorials
The programme offers the trainee access to two thirty-minute tutorials during a course with a PEP educationalist aimed to provide guidance on the development of the Portfolio of Evidence. This can be organised in groups or individual sessions.
Practice Supervisor and Clinical Supervisor
Each trainee will be required to have both a Practice Supervisor and Clinical Supervisor (consultant surgeon).
To book a place on this course, you can either book online or download an application form.
Application form:
To reserve your place on this course please download and fill in the application form below or contact us.
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Please post completed forms to :
The Beeches
121 Nantwich Road
Middlewich
Cheshire
CW10 9HD
Email: info@pepractice.co.uk |
Booking Form
