Key Points:
  1. The operating theatre being the primary learning environment for trainees to acquire procedural skills, needs to be optimized to ensure effective training can take place
  2. We developed a 27-item questionnaire which aims to evaluate the training experience of higher surgical trainees in the operating theatre
  3. The content validity index and Cronbach’s α both indicate that our instrument has a high content validity and internal consistency compared to similar evaluation questionnaire
  4. Three themes are perceived to be important for higher surgical training: trainer support & supervision, operating opportunities and theatre atmosphere.
  5. Our instrument is applicable across surgical sub-specialties and can be easily adapted for other training programs.