Department of Surgery, University of Toronto, Toronto, Ontario, Canada.
J Surg Educ. 2013 Jul-Aug;70(4):487-94. doi: 10.1016/j.jsurg.2013.03.006. Epub 2013 Apr 30.
The popularity of surgical specialties is declining amongst Canadian medical students. Limited early exposure of students to surgery and minor involvement of surgeons in preclerkship education are barriers to creating interest in the field. Although many informal observerships and interest groups exist, there are no structured programs in Canada that offer preclerkship medical students a comprehensive exposure to surgery.
Twenty first-year medical students participated in the Surgical Exploration and Discovery (SEAD) Program. SEAD is a pilot project at the University of Toronto providing a unique combination of (1) observerships, (2) informal discussions on surgical careers, and (3) hands-on simulation workshops across all 7 direct-entry specialties within the Department of Surgery. All participants underwent pretraining and posttraining evaluation of learning through a paper-based knowledge test and all completed a structured survey on the benefit of the course.
Comparison of test scores revealed an overall significant improvement in learning (p<0.0001). The improvement in test scores was seen in the knowledge of all 3 components of the course (p<0.0001). Qualitative evaluation revealed a positive student experience, with 100% of students indicating that SEAD helped them identify new interests in surgical subspecialties. Finally, 100% of students stated that they would recommend the program to incoming medical students.
The SEAD Program successfully improves preclerkship students' knowledge of surgical principles, understanding of a career in surgery, and basic surgical skills. Participation in the program also positively influenced their interest in pursuing a career in surgery. Programs such as SEAD may be offered to preclerkship medical students to improve their exposure to surgery at this level of training and to enhance perspectives toward surgical careers.
在加拿大医学生中，外科专业的受欢迎程度正在下降。学生对外科的早期接触有限，以及外科医生在预科教育中的参与度低，这些都是对外科领域产生兴趣的障碍。尽管有许多非正式的观察和兴趣小组，但加拿大没有为预科医学生提供全面接触外科的结构化项目。
21 名一年级医学生参加了外科探索与发现（SEAD）计划。SEAD 是多伦多大学的一个试点项目，提供了（1）观察、（2）关于外科职业的非正式讨论以及（3）在外科系所有 7 个直接入学专业中进行的动手模拟研讨会的独特组合。所有参与者都接受了培训前和培训后的学习评估，通过纸质知识测试，所有参与者都完成了关于课程益处的结构化调查。
测试成绩的比较显示出学习的整体显著提高（p<0.0001）。课程的所有 3 个组成部分的测试成绩都有所提高（p<0.0001）。定性评估显示出学生的积极体验，100%的学生表示 SEAD 帮助他们确定了对外科亚专业的新兴趣。最后，100%的学生表示他们将向即将入学的医学生推荐该计划。
SEAD 计划成功地提高了预科医学生对外科原则的知识、对外科职业的理解以及基本的外科技能。参与该计划也对他们对从事外科职业的兴趣产生了积极影响。类似 SEAD 的计划可以提供给预科医学生，以提高他们在这个培训水平上对外科的接触，并增强对外科职业的看法。
