A novel surgical education course for preclinical undergraduate medical students

Exposure to surgery in the preclinical years of medical school is variable and disproportionately favors students from privileged backgrounds. By the time students enter their surgical rotation they may have already formed a negative opinion about surgery. Many early intervention programs have been studied but are difficult to implement.

Students at an allopathic medical school in the preclinical phase enrolled in a surgical education course (SEC) in fall 2023 and winter 2024 covering three competencies: 1) scrubbing; 2) operating room (OR) etiquette, and; 3) live surgery observation. Competencies were taught once per week, totaling 6 ​h of teaching. Third-year medical students who had completed their surgery core rotation led the course. A survey was sent out before and after the course and responses were analyzed.

Forty-one students completed the course. Thirty-eight (93 ​%) participants identified as female and three (7 ​%) identified as male. Following completion of the course, OR experience (p ​= ​0.026) and knowledge (p ​= ​0.048) significantly increased. Using within subjects' comparison of deidentified student responses (N ​= ​11), there was also a significant improvement in students' perceptions of surgery (p ​= ​0.023), including ease of involvement in the field, ability to get along with surgeons, and work-life balance in surgical careers. There was no significant change in attitudes toward length of training and competitiveness of surgery.

Our novel student-led SEC significantly improved students' operational experience, knowledge, and positive perception of surgery. The low number of hours and use of near peer mentorship allows our course to be easily integrated into any preclinical curriculum.