Abstract
Background
The surgical clerkship is the primary surgical learning experience for medical students.
This study aims to understand student perspectives on the surgery clerkship both before
and after the core surgical rotation.
Methods
Medical students at 4 academic hospitals completed pre and postclerkship surveys that
included open-ended questions regarding (1) student learning goals and concerns and
(2) how surgical clerkship learning could be enhanced. Thematic analysis was performed,
and interrater reliability was calculated.
Results
Ninety-one percent of students completed both a pre and postclerkship survey (n =162 of 179), generating 320 preclerkship and 270 postclerkship responses. Mean kappa
coefficients were 0.83 and 0.82 for pre and postclerkship primary themes, respectively.
Thematic analysis identified 5 broad themes: (1) core learning expectations, (2) understanding
surgical careers, culture, and work, (3) inhabiting the role of a surgeon, (4) inclusion
in the surgical team, and (5) the unique role of the medical student on clinical clerkships.
Based on these themes, we propose a learner-centered model of a successful surgical
clerkship that satisfies discrete student learning and goals and career objectives
while ameliorating the challenges of high-stakes clinical surgical environments such
as the operating room.
Conclusion
Understanding student perspectives on the surgery clerkship, including preclerkship
motivations and concerns and postclerkship reflections on surgical learning, revealed
potential targets of intervention to improve the surgery clerkship. Future investigation
may elucidate whether the proposed model of the elements of a successful surgery clerkship
learning facilitates improvement of the surgical learning environment and enhanced
surgical learning.
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Article info
Publication history
Published online: January 22, 2022
Accepted:
September 13,
2021
Identification
Copyright
© 2021 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.
