Basics of Surgical Skills

Corresponding Author:

Srashti Choudhary
Editorial Office, International Journal of Clinical Skills, London, United Kingdom
E-mail:ijclinicalskill@journalres.com

Abstract

Students' interest in surgery can be boosted by early exposure to surgery in a favorable learning environment. The study's main goals were to promote operating room (OR) comfort, confidence in surgical skills, and mentorship for students interested in surgery. Preclinical medical students frequently have limited experience to the surgical learning environment, which can be stressful. Developing an interest in surgery prior to the clerkship experience is difficult due to the difficulty of navigating the operating room. Furthermore, depending on student nervousness or comfort in the operating room, the clerkship experience might be significantly different for medical students.

Students’ interest in surgery can be boosted by early exposure to surgery in a favourable learning environment. The study’s main goals were to promote operating room (OR) comfort, confidence in surgical skills, and mentorship for students interested in surgery. Preclinical medical students frequently have limited experience in the surgical learning environment, which can be stressful. Developing an interest in surgery before the clerkship experience is difficult due to the difficulty of navigating the operating room. Furthermore, depending on student nervousness or comfort in the operating room, the clerkship experience might be significantly different for medical students.

As a result, creating guided surgical experiences that enable student exposure to and comfort in these contexts is critical. Pupils must have the right kind of exposure. Students who have had early operative experience in a good learning environment have been demonstrated to be better prepared to accept and benefit from the real-time instruction that occurs in the operating room. Furthermore, the main predictor of students joining general surgery is the excellent learning environment established by surgeon attendings. Our school devised a curriculum that gave preclinical medical students an extensive and progressive surgical immersion experience to pique their interest before the surgery clerkship. The curriculum was changed in 2014 to better depict surgery in its breadth and complexity. It was originally established as a skills-based course. Multiple iterative curricular adjustments based on student feedback have been made over the years, and major curricular changes have been implemented as a result of a rigorous curriculum evaluation conducted in 2016. Surveys were given to students and teachers who had finished the 2015 course as part of the formal curriculum review and needs assessment. Students enrolled in our course for a variety of reasons, the most popular of which was to better prepare for the surgery clerkship. As a result, technical skills training remained a key part of the programme but was refocused to emphasize skills that students were likely to utilize during their surgery clerkship, such as basic suturing, knot tying, and laparoscopic camera navigation. A number of nontechnical abilities that students wanted to master were also highlighted during our needs assessment.

A nontechnical skills training component was introduced in response, which included a review of situational awareness, decision making, communication, and teamwork tactics modified for medical students from The Non-Technical Skills for Surgeons (NOTSS) System Handbook. Finally, a mandatory shadowing experience with an allocated faculty mentor was added to the curriculum to help students become more comfortable in the operating room atmosphere before beginning their clerkship.

The course is unusual in the literature and, more specifically, in Med-ed-portal in that it focuses on increasing student confidence through a comprehensive, step-by-step introduction to surgery and the operating room setting. There are many modules that were designed to boost confidence in both technical and nontechnical skills while also giving immersive operating room experiences. Multiple curriculum for basic suturing abilities, like as knot tying and suturing, as well as simulations for exposing students to the surgery clerkship, have been published. Many online sessions, on the other hand, were meant to build on one another, starting with basic technical and nontechnical surgical abilities and culminating in an operation done on a corpse, allowing students to apply what they had learned in a simulated operative experience. Overall, many courses offers a wide range of materials that institutions can use to foster preclinical medical students’ interest in surgery while also assisting them in preparing for the surgery core clerkship.