[A microsurgical wet lab for medical students increases interest in ophthalmology]

Practical contents are gaining in importance in medical curricula in Germany. In times of a lack of applicants, practical courses provide an increased level of interest for students in the respective disciplines. A practical appeal of ophthalmology is microsurgical procedures. A microsurgical suture wet lab can be an introduction for medical students.

Assessment of the increased interest in ophthalmology through evaluation of a suture wet lab course, including suturing under a microscope.

The data were obtained from the practical course in ophthalmology during the sixth semester for medical students at the university medical center in Mainz in April 2019. In a questionnaire developed in collaboration with the Center for Quality Assurance and Development various statements had to be answered and evaluated using ordinal scales.

A total of 64 evaluation questionnaires from 8 groups each with 8 medical students supervised by different tutors were analyzed. The wet lab was rated with 1.24 ± 0.5 (mean ± SD) on a German school grade scale (1 = best, 6 = worst). There was agreement (1 = total agreement, 7 = total disagreement) concerning the desire for further microscopic wet labs (1.86 ± 1.28) as well as learning more ophthalmological surgical techniques (2.02 ± 1.13). The interest in ophthalmology (1 = very high interest, 7 = very low interest) increased from 3.66 ± 1.55 before the course to 2.52 ± 1.00.

Interest in ophthalmology can be increased through a microsurgical wet lab. The interest of students can therefore be awakened, which can have advantageous effects in job application situations and in research work. In this way experience and practical skills in ophthalmology can already be acquired during medical studies.