National undergraduate surgical learning objectives: the NUSLO project

Area of Science:

• Medical Education
• Surgical Training
• Curriculum Development

Background:

• Significant variance exists in undergraduate surgical learning objectives across Canadian medical schools.
• The Canadian Undergraduate Surgical Education Committee (CUSEC) initiated a project to standardize these objectives.

Purpose of the Study:

• To compile a national set of undergraduate surgical learning objectives (NUSLOs).
• To map these NUSLOs to the Medical Council of Canada (MCC) objectives for curriculum alignment.

Main Methods:

• Phase 1: Ten surgical specialty societies identified essential discipline-specific learning objectives.
• Phase 2: Medical students and faculty mapped NUSLOs to corresponding MCC objectives, including primary and secondary tiers.

Main Results:

• All 10 surgical societies submitted their NUSLOs, totaling 72 major objectives.
• Each NUSLO was mapped to an average of 18 MCC objectives and tiered to 1-2 primary MCC objectives.
• The NUSLOs and mapping are publicly available on the CUSEC website.

Conclusions:

• The developed NUSLOs and their mapping provide a foundational reference for standardizing undergraduate surgical curricula in Canada.
• This resource enables medical schools to customize, standardize, and revise their surgical education programs.