Declining interest in general surgical training - Challenging misconceptions and improving access at undergraduate...

Area of Science:

• Medical Education
• Surgical Training
• Surgical Skills Development

Background:

• General surgery faces declining applicant numbers for postgraduate training.
• A national surgical conference was held to explore reasons for this decline.
• The conference aimed to assess a one-day intervention's impact on student perceptions and skills.

Purpose of the Study:

• To investigate the effectiveness of a one-day intervention on medical students' perceptions of general surgery.
• To evaluate the impact of the intervention on students' surgical skills.
• To explore reasons behind the declining interest in general surgery training.

Main Methods:

• A national surgical conference was conducted at St. George's, University of London.
• Medical students attended lectures on surgical careers and simulation-based laparoscopic workshops.
• Pre- and post-intervention questionnaires assessed perceptions of general surgery, simulation skills, and the event's usefulness.

Main Results:

• Significant positive shifts in perceptions of general surgery as a specialty offering personal/professional development (26%) and being rewarding (26%).
• A notable increase in the perception of general surgery being female-unfriendly (+32%).
• Positive outcomes were observed across all laparoscopic simulation skill assessments.

Conclusions:

• The one-day intervention effectively addressed misconceptions and improved knowledge regarding general surgery.
• Simulation teaching demonstrated benefits for undergraduate surgical curriculum.
• The study highlighted challenges in general surgery recruitment and the value of targeted interventions.