Surgical inclination in senior medical students from the University of Auckland: results of the 2005 Senior Students Survey.

AIMS

To determine the proportion of senior medical students who are surgically inclined and to assess whether gender differences exist in surgical inclination.

STUDY DESIGN

Cross-sectional survey. Twenty-five point questionnaire. Likert scale response ranking.

SETTING

University of Auckland Medical School, New Zealand.

PARTICIPANTS

218 surveys were emailed to functioning addresses of fourth and fifth year students.156 students emailed responses (71.60% response rate).

RESULTS

Twenty percent of students were found to be surgically inclined (95% CI 0.15-0.26). The proportion of surgically inclined males was significantly higher than females (p<0.01). A greater proportion of surgically inclined students found time spent in the operating theatre educationally valuable than non-surgically inclined students (p<0.01). No difference exists in the number of different procedures undertaken by students (p<0.05).

CONCLUSION

Males are significantly more likely to be surgically inclined than females at the University of Auckland Medical School.