Celene Wei Qi Ng1, Nicholas L Syn2, Rosezita Binte Mohamed Hussein3, Maggie Ng3, Alfred Wei Chieh Kow4. 1. Department of Surgery, University Surgical Cluster, National University Hospital, Singapore; Yong Loo Lin School of Medicine, National University of Singapore, Singapore. 2. Yong Loo Lin School of Medicine, National University of Singapore, Singapore. 3. Department of Surgery, University Surgical Cluster, National University Hospital, Singapore. 4. Department of Surgery, University Surgical Cluster, National University Hospital, Singapore; Yong Loo Lin School of Medicine, National University of Singapore, Singapore. Electronic address: alfred_kow@nuhs.edu.sg.
Abstract
BACKGROUND: Studies in Caucasian populations suggest that interest among medical students in pursuing a surgical career is dwindling. We sought to investigate these trends and to evaluate the impact of resident teaching in a multiethnic Asian population. STUDY DESIGN: Between 2015 and 2017, 1780 Singaporean third- and fifth-year medical students completed a structured anonymized questionnaire following the completion of an 8-week general surgery rotation. Medical students' impressions of their faculty and resident mentors were analyzed using hierarchical multilevel mixed-effects models. RESULTS: Respondents' opinions of general surgery improved from 3.31 ± 0.91 points to 4.03 ± 0.83 points on a 5-point Likert scale (P < 0.0001). Medical students were more likely to regard their interaction with residents as a "pull" factor compared to their interaction with faculty members (74.7% vs 65.6%; P < 0.0001). Our analyses revealed 9 statistically-significant "pull" factors and 5 "push" factors which attract or deter Asian medical students from a career in surgery. Comparing the pedagogical qualities of resident and faculty mentors, we found that residents surpassed faculty mentors in 9 domains, had comparable appraisal scores on 3 domains, and fared worse than faculty on 8 domains. Importantly, residents fared better at promoting interest in a surgical career (P = 0.0006) and influencing the career aspirations of medical students (P < 0.0001) compared with faculty members. CONCLUSIONS: To our knowledge, this is the largest study from a Southeast Asian country providing representative sample numbers. With this knowledge of pull and push factors, the surgical clerkship can be improved by emphasizing pull factors and preparing students to cope with the push factors. Finally, our findings suggest that roping in residents as mentors to medical students may improve the pipeline of students interested in pursuing surgery after medical school.
BACKGROUND: Studies in Caucasian populations suggest that interest among medical students in pursuing a surgical career is dwindling. We sought to investigate these trends and to evaluate the impact of resident teaching in a multiethnic Asian population. STUDY DESIGN: Between 2015 and 2017, 1780 Singaporean third- and fifth-year medical students completed a structured anonymized questionnaire following the completion of an 8-week general surgery rotation. Medical students' impressions of their faculty and resident mentors were analyzed using hierarchical multilevel mixed-effects models. RESULTS: Respondents' opinions of general surgery improved from 3.31 ± 0.91 points to 4.03 ± 0.83 points on a 5-point Likert scale (P < 0.0001). Medical students were more likely to regard their interaction with residents as a "pull" factor compared to their interaction with faculty members (74.7% vs 65.6%; P < 0.0001). Our analyses revealed 9 statistically-significant "pull" factors and 5 "push" factors which attract or deter Asian medical students from a career in surgery. Comparing the pedagogical qualities of resident and faculty mentors, we found that residents surpassed faculty mentors in 9 domains, had comparable appraisal scores on 3 domains, and fared worse than faculty on 8 domains. Importantly, residents fared better at promoting interest in a surgical career (P = 0.0006) and influencing the career aspirations of medical students (P < 0.0001) compared with faculty members. CONCLUSIONS: To our knowledge, this is the largest study from a Southeast Asian country providing representative sample numbers. With this knowledge of pull and push factors, the surgical clerkship can be improved by emphasizing pull factors and preparing students to cope with the push factors. Finally, our findings suggest that roping in residents as mentors to medical students may improve the pipeline of students interested in pursuing surgery after medical school.
Authors: Paris D Butler; Alisa Nagler; Anthony Atala; L D Britt; James Denneny; Brenessa Lindeman; John Mellinger; Ajit K Sachdeva; Kathryn Spanknebel; Mohsen Shabahang Journal: Am J Surg Date: 2020-08-01 Impact factor: 2.565