Preparing medical students to enter surgery residencies

Area of Science:

• Medical Education
• Surgical Training
• Graduate Medical Education

Background:

• Developing effective surgical training programs is crucial for preparing medical students for residency.
• The American College of Surgeons Graduate Medical Education Committee (ACGME) outlines essential competencies for surgical education.

Purpose of the Study:

• To develop and evaluate an integrated curriculum for surgical interns.
• The curriculum focuses on cognitive and proficiency-based skills aligned with ACGME competencies.

Main Methods:

• The curriculum incorporated cadaver dissections, didactic sessions, team training, and clinical/technical skills practice.
• Trainees completed pretests, practiced to proficiency on 12 open and 5 Fundamental Laparoscopic Surgery (FLS) tasks, and underwent post-tests.
• Confidence and skills surveys were administered to assess learning outcomes.

Main Results:

• Trainees achieved proficiency in open and FLS tasks.
• Mean confidence in 51 skills significantly increased from 2.4 to 4.0 (P < .001).
• The course received a high evaluation score (4.5/5).

Conclusions:

• The integrated curriculum successfully enhanced trainee confidence and surgical skills.
• Proficiency in surgical tasks can be achieved within a shorter training period.
• This program is expected to improve the baseline abilities of incoming surgery interns.