Declining interest in general surgical training – Challenging misconceptions and improving access at undergraduate level (original) (raw)
Related papers
Surgical Skills Workshops Should Be a Part of the United Kingdom Undergraduate Medical Curriculum
Cureus
Introduction: Medical students across the United Kingdom (UK) report poor satisfaction with surgical teaching. The Surgical Skills Day (SSD) begins to address this by exposing medical students to surgery through an easily accessible one-day practical workshop. This study shows how the SSD encourages undergraduate engagement in surgery. Method: Feedback forms were emailed to attendees of the SSD and their anonymised responses were used to evaluate the SSD. Results: A total of 144 students attended the SSD across three years and the feedback response rate was 74% (n = 107). Key findings were that 100% of respondents (n = 107) would like the SSD to be an annual event, 79% (n = 83) were more inclined to pursue a surgical career following the event, and 97% (n = 103) would like to see practical surgical skills incorporated into the curriculum. The SSD was able to engage undergraduates with surgery through mentorship, practical skills, specialty exposure, and teaching of the General Medical Council (GMC) mandated skills. Conclusions: Undergraduate surgical teaching in the UK is insufficient. The student-led annual SSD showed improved engagement in practical surgical skills and increased enthusiasm for a surgical career. In light of this, the authors feel the SSD or similar event should be integrated into the UK medical school curriculum.
Br J Oral Maxillofac Surg, 2016
Please cite this article in press as: Bauer F, et al. Can a one-day practical lesson in surgical skills encourage medical students to consider a surgical career? Br J Oral Maxillofac Surg (2015), http://dx. Abstract Interest in a surgical career is declining among medical students, and many more need to commit themselves to becoming surgeons to cope with this. We have therefore developed a one-day practical lesson in surgical skills to find out whether a short course such as this can make students more enthusiastic about surgery, and about subsequently pursuing a career in one of its subspecialties. Fifty-four randomly-selected medical students did a one-day practical course in the skills required for maxillofacial surgical specialties. The 4 subdivisions involved-traumatology, resection of a tumour (cancer surgery), plastic surgery (microsurgery), and cleft lip and palate surgery. All students took written tests and completed an evaluation form about their interest in a surgical career before and after training. There was a significant increase in test scores in almost all categories at the end of the course, and significantly more students were prepared to consider a surgical career or a career in maxillofacial surgery after the training. This study shows that a one-day training course in surgical skills can significantly improve medical students' surgical knowledge, and might encourage them to enter a surgical career. We recommend the integration of a short training course such as this into the medical school curriculum. Only time and further evaluation will tell whether this increased exposure to surgical techniques can be transformed into additional surgeons.
The Bulletin of the Royal College of Surgeons of England, 2018
Surgical skills training is an important aspect of both undergraduate and post-graduate medical education.1 Unfortunately, surgical skills training for medical students and foundation year doctors can be variable and dependent on particular surgical rotations. Medical students have reported receiving negative comments in theatre, being made to feel unwelcome and having a lack of structured teaching during theatre sessions.2,3 Although the focus of theatre lists must be patient-centred, current training schemes allow less time for clinical exposure, meaning that every clinical encounter must be considered a training opportunity. This is both the responsibility of the surgical team and of medical students and junior doctors; students who are encouraged to scrub, be involved and are better prepared are more likely to attend theatre again.4 Exposure and experiences within surgical firms are also significant factors in determining the choice of surgery as a career.5,6 They allow not only development of practical skills but also discussion about career and lifestyle.7 Ultimately, the nurturing and attention to training of medical students and junior doctors will ensure that surgery continues to attract excellent candidates.
Identifying and Addressing High Priority Issues in General Surgery Training and Education
Journal of Surgical Education, 2019
BACKGROUND: Complex problems are often easier to address when multiple entities collaborate. The Procedural Learning and Safety Collaborative (PLSC) was established to address complex problems in general surgery residency training by connectively engaging multiple residency programs in addressing progressive research questions. STUDY DESIGN: Recently, PLSC members held a national symposium which included leadership from several leading surgical societies to come to a consensus on what are the most critical issues in general surgery education. RESULTS: This paper describes the process used and the end result of this process. This paper describes the process used and the end result of this process. (J Surg Ed 000:1À5.
Identification of Specific Educational Targets to Improve the Student Surgical Clerkship Experience
Journal of the American College of Surgeons, 2019
Background: This study describes the relationship between medical student perception of surgery, frequency of positive surgery clerkship activities, and overall surgical clerkship experience. Methods: Medical students at four academic hospitals completed pre-and post-clerkship surveys assessing 1) surgery clerkship activities/experiences and 2) perceptions of surgery during the 2017-2018 academic year. Results: Ninety-one percent of students completed both a pre-and post-clerkship survey (n ¼ 162 of 179). Student perception of surgery significantly improved across the clerkship overall (P < 0.0001) and for 7 of 21 specific items. Eighty-six percent of students agreed that the clerkship was a meaningful experience. Sixty-six percent agreed that the operating room was a positive learning environment. Multivariable logistic regression identified oneon-one mentoring from a resident (OR [95% CI] ¼ 2.12 [1.11-4.04], P ¼ 0.02) and establishing a meaningful relationship with a surgical patient (OR ¼ 2.21 [1.12-4.37], P ¼ 0.02) as activities predictive of student agreement that the surgical clerkship was meaningful. Making an incision (OR ¼ 2.92 [1.54-5.56], P ¼ 0.001) and assisting in dissection (OR ¼ 1.67 [1.03-2.69], P ¼ 0.035) were predictive of student agreement that the operating room was a positive learning environment. Positive student perception of surgery before the clerkship was associated with increased frequency of positive clerkship activities including operative involvement (r ¼ 0.26, P ¼ 0.001) and relationships with surgical attendings (r ¼ 0.20, P ¼ 0.01), residents (r ¼ 0.41, P < 0.0001), and patients (r ¼ 0.24, P ¼ 0.003).
Enhancing the Formal Preclinical Curriculum to Improve Medical Student Perception of Surgery
Journal of Surgical Education, 2020
BACKGROUND: This study aims to determine the effect of formal, preclinical curricular interventions on medical students' perceptions of surgeons, surgical learning objectives, and concerns regarding the surgical clerkship. METHODS: Thirty-eight medical students underwent a newly required, formal introduction to surgery during the preclinical curriculum. Two months later, these students were given surveys regarding their perception of surgery before and after a bootcamp-style transitions to the wards workshop that immediately preceded their core clinical rotations. Student responses were compared to historical peers. RESULTS: Thirty-seven students participated in the study (97.4%). Relative to historical peers, students demonstrated improved overall perception of surgery (71.2 vs 66.6, p = 0.046). A smaller proportion of students indicated that they were worried about evaluation (18.9% in 2018 vs 55.3% in 2017, p = 0.001) and interactions with surgical educators (18.9% vs 50%, p = 0.005). Students' overall perception of surgery significantly improved after participation in the transition to the wards workshop (71.2 to 77.8, p 0.0001), as did student agreement with 9 of 21 specific items. Improvement in surgical perception across the bootcamp-style workshop was similar to that of a prior workshop (8.6 in 2018 vs 6.4 in 2017, p = 0.21). CONCLUSIONS: A preclinical introduction to surgery can have a positive impact on medical student perception of surgery prior to entry to the wards and may mitigate student fears regarding their surgical rotation.
Evaluation of basic surgical skill workshop at undergraduate level in the discipline of surgery
Pakistan Journal of Medical Sciences
Objective: To evaluate the effectiveness of basic surgical skill workshop at under graduate level. Methods: This was randomized controlled study (cross-over design) conducted at Al-Nafees Medical College and hospital from 1st January to November 30th 2017. Undergraduate medical students of Year-5 MBBS were randomized into two groups to undergo surgical skills training. One was workshop or interventional Group-A, other was traditional teaching or control Group-B. Online random sampling calculator was used for randomization. Both groups were given a pretest and post-test in the form of two OSATS station. Results: Total 49 students were enrolled in the study; Group-A had 25 whereas Group-B had 24 students. There was significant difference (p=0.000) in mean post-test scores of Group-A (36.28±6.75) and Group-B (24.17±5.09) out of 53 on OSATS station-1. Significant statistical difference (p=0.000) in the mean score of post-tests of Group-A (26.08±18.34) and Group-B (14.42±9.24) out of 37 ...
“Blowing up the Barriers” in Surgical Training
Annals of Surgery, 2011
Objectives: To explore face, content and construct validity of Distributed Simulation (DS), an innovative approach to low-cost, high-fidelity surgical simulation and compare technical performance in the DS with that on a standard surgical box trainer.