Training tomorrow's doctors in the preoperative clinic

The reduction in the length of hospital stay for surgical patients at a time of expanding medical student numbers has created challenges in the provision of adequate exposure to surgical patients. This has required the use of surgical learning opportunities in the ambulatory setting, including the preoperative assessment clinic. At Keele University, fourth-year medical students follow patient journeys through the preoperative assessment process, gaining experience of history taking, examination, prescribing and practical skills. This is followed by group discussion with a clinical teaching fellow, focusing on management and clinical reasoning. We audited the experience our students gained in the preoperative assessment clinic against the relevant Tomorrow's Doctors outcomes.

An audit tool was created by reviewing the patient journey to identify potential learning opportunities. These were then mapped to the relevant Tomorrow's Doctors outcomes. Audit pro formas were completed for each student at the end of the clinic by the clinical educator, with a total of 42 sessions audited.

Our findings show that it is possible for students to gain experience in all nine of the identified Tomorrow's Doctors outcomes in the preoperative assessment clinic. Practical procedure experience was gained by 92 per cent of students, and 70 per cent demonstrated clinical judgment and decision skills.

This study shows that students can gain experience in multiple Tomorrow's Doctors outcomes in the preoperative assessment clinic. In particular, it is a useful environment to learn and teach practical procedures, clinical reasoning and decision-making skills.