Medical student perceptions of plastic surgeons as hand surgery specialists

Plastic surgeons are often not perceived as hand surgery specialists. Better educating medical students about the plastic surgeon's role in hand surgery may improve the understanding of the field for future referring physicians. The purposes of this study were to assess medical students' understanding of hand surgery specialists and to analyze the impact of prior plastic, orthopedic, and general surgery clinical exposure on this understanding.

An online survey including 8 hand-related clinical scenarios was administered to students at a large academic medical center. After indicating training level and prior clinical exposure to plastic surgery or other surgical subspecialties, students selected one or more appropriate surgical subspecialists for management of surgical hand conditions.

A response rate of 56.4% was achieved. Prior clinical exposure to plastic, orthopedic, and general surgery was reported by 29%, 43%, and 90% of fourth year students, respectively. Students generally chose at least 1 acceptable specialty for management of hand conditions with improvement over the course of their training (P = 0.008). Overall, students perceived orthopedic surgeons as hand specialists more so than plastic and general surgeons. Clinical exposure to plastic surgery increased the selection of this specialty for nearly all scenarios (22%-46%, P = 0.025). Exposure to orthopedic and general surgery was associated with a decrease in selection of plastic surgery for treatment of carpal tunnel and hand burns, respectively.

Medical students have a poor understanding of the plastic surgeon's role in hand surgery. If plastic surgeons want to continue to be recognized as hand surgeons, they should better educate medical students about their role in hand surgery. This can be achieved by providing a basic overview of plastic surgery to all medical students with emphasis placed on hand and peripheral nerve surgery.