E. Brito1, A. Iraniha2, V. Gutierrez1, M. K. Oberoi5, A. DeGuzman1, M. Entezampour1, D. Friscia1, S. J. Handler1, M. A. Stuparich1, R. Vyas1, D. Javidi4, A. Iraniha1 1University of California – Riverside, School Of Medicine, Riverside, CA, USA 2University Of Cincinnati, College Of Medicine, Cincinnati, OH, USA 3University Of California – Irvine, School Of Medicine, Orange, CA, USA 4California University of Science and Medicine, School Of Medicine, Colton, CA, USA 5Texas A&M – Baylor Scott and White, Plastic And Reconstructive Surgery, Temple, TX, USA
Introduction: Choosing a suitable surgical residency, even amongst medical students with interest in the field of surgery, can be perplexing and a dubious task. As a result, we introduced a unique hands-on surgical anatomy course to third year medical students with the interest in surgery to increase their interaction with surgeons of different surgical specialties to inspire them to pursue a carrier in surgery and prepare them for surgical residency. The study aims to collect feedback and opinions of these medical students as to how the course and their interaction with surgeons of different specialties affected their decision to pursue a career in surgery.
Methods: The surgical anatomy course is a two-week intensive hands-on elective rotation offered to third-year medical students with the interest in the field of surgery. Each day is assigned to one of five surgeons within a different subspecialty of general, plastic, gynecology, cardiothoracic and orthopedic surgery to perform one to two advanced specialty specific procedure. A 10-question survey was then sent to each student that completed the program to anonymously rate how the surgical anatomy course affected various aspects of their career choice. A response to each proposed question was recorded using a 5-point Likert response scale, ranging from not at all (1) to extremely (5).
Results: Of the total of 13 students who completed the surgical anatomy course within the last three years, 8 students responded to the survey with a response rate of 62%. All students stated that the surgical anatomy course improved their understanding of surgical problems, their applied surgical anatomy of the specialties covered, and 87% noting improvement of basic surgical skills. 63% of students stated that the course had strong effect on their decision to choose a specialty that was presented and strongly disagree that the course dissuaded their decision to pursue a surgical residency. Additionally, 75% of students rated that the surgeon’s involvement in teaching the course influenced their decision to pursue a different surgical/non-surgical specialty from prior to the course. 100% of students reported that the surgeons’ involvement in teaching surgical anatomy course had substantial effect on their learning and thought that they received more surgical hands-on exposure during the course compared to their surgical clerkship rotation. All agreed that the course is valuable for medical students prior to starting a surgical residency.
Conclusion: The results of this pilot study demonstrate that a hands-on surgical anatomy course conducted by surgeons in various subspecialties can positively influence medical students to pursue a career in surgery and choose a suitable surgical subspeciality. Overall, students felt that the course strengthened their understanding of surgical problems, applied surgical anatomy, and found the course invaluable prior to starting a surgical residency.