T. Pandian1, E. H. Buckarma1, B. L. Gas1, M. Mohan1, R. R. Li1, N. D. Naik1, D. R. Farley1 1Mayo Clinic – Rochester,Division Of Subspecialty General Surgery,Rochester, MN, USA
Introduction: In late 2014, the American Board of Surgery, the American College of Surgeons, and other surgical governing bodies issued a statement on the importance and success of pre-residency preparatory curricula for medical students transitioning into surgical residencies. In this spirit, we aimed to provide new trainees with simple, low-cost and effective resources to be utilized at home prior to matriculation, to better prepare them for early objective assessments in residency.
Methods: Matched medical students in 2015 were mailed a package of preparatory resources 1 month prior to matriculation into residency. The package consisted of ‘how-to’ videos, low-fidelity models, and surgical instruments for 5 ‘stations’ (arterial blood gas analysis, knot tying ability, suturing dexterity, anatomy knowledge, imaging knowledge) of our program’s bi-annual intern objective assessment activity (Surgical Olympics). These 5 stations accounted for 50 points of the total 130 points possible (total 13 stations, 10 points each). Surgical Olympics’ scores for these stations from 2015 were compared with 2014 controls using the student’s T-test. Residents who repeated the assessment in both years due to transition from preliminary to categorical positions, were excluded.
Results: Twenty-six interns participated in the 2015 Surgical Olympics and were compared to 32 historical controls. Residents were similar in age and operative/procedural experience, prior to matriculation and assessment. Overall mean scores were low in these 5 stations, but significantly higher (19.7 vs. 15.4, p=0.04) in the 2015 class. The largest increase was noted in the anatomy knowledge station (mean 5 vs. 1.9, p<0.01). Scores in stations assessing technical competence (knot tying ability, suturing dexterity) were similar between groups. The number of perfect scores among the five stations was higher (10 vs. 5) in the 2015 group. Mean scores from the other 8 stations, for which no resources were mailed, showed no difference (29.3 vs 27.5, p=0.58).
Conclusion: Enacting a small, home-based curriculum for medical students prior to beginning surgical residency, improved performance on early objective assessments. Low overall scores highlight the importance of and need for preparation prior to matriculation. Despite inherent biases to our pilot-study, we believe similar curricula could augment surgical board-approved pre-residency courses for medical students.