Disembodied, dehumanised but safe and feasible: The social-spatial flow of a pandemic OSCE.

INTRODUCTION: The Objective Structured Clinical Examination (OSCE) is a key feature of healthcare education assessment. Many aspects of the OSCE are well-investigated, but not so its sociomaterial assemblage. The Covid-19 pandemic provided a unique opportunity to (re)consider taken-for-granted OSCE practices. Drawing on Law's modes of ordering, our aim was to demonstrate the 'mangle of practice' between space and people; the spatialised and spatialising processes of an OSCE. METHODS: We used a case study approach to critically examine a redesigned final year MBChB OSCE held during the pandemic. We used multiple sources of data to attune to human and non-human actors: OSCE documentation, photographs, field notes and semi-structured interviews with OSCE staff/organisers. Law's modes of ordering was used as an analytical lens to critically consider how people and things flowed through the adapted OSCE. FINDINGS: The overarching ordering was the delivery of a 'pandemic safe' OSCE. This necessitated reordering of 'usual' process to deliver a socially distanced, safe flow of human and non-human actors through the assessment space. Each change had material and social 'knock on' effects. We identified three main interrelated orderings: Substituting technologies for bodies: Disembodied and dehumanised but feasible; Flow through space: Architectural affordances and one-way traffic; Barriers to flow: Time and technology. DISCUSSION: Looking at the OSCE through a sociomaterial lens allows us to critically examine the OSCE's essential and complex processes and the restrictions and affordances of the spaces and props within the OSCE. In doing so, we open the possibility of considering alternative ways of doing OSCEs in the future. Moreover, conceptualising the OSCE as a living set of socially (human) and materially (nonhuman) enacted processes changes the social perception of the OSCE and highlights that an OSCE has agency on people, places and things.

A meta-study analysing the discourses of discourse analysis in health professions education.

INTRODUCTION: Discourse analysis has been used as an approach to conducting research in health professions education (HPE) for many years. However, because there is no one 'right' interpretation of or approach to it, quite what discourse analysis is, how it could or should be used, and how it can be appraised are unclear. This ambiguity risks undermining the trustworthiness and coherence of the methodology and any findings it produces. METHOD: A meta-study review was conducted to explore the current state of discourse analysis in HPE, to guide researchers engaging using the methodology and to improving methodological, analytical and reporting rigour. Structured searches were conducted, returns were filtered for inclusion and 124 articles critically analysed. RESULTS: Of 124 included articles, 64 were from medical education, 51 from nursing and 9 were mutli-disciplinary or from other HPE disciplines. Of 119 articles reporting some sort of data, 50 used documents/written text as the sole data source, while 27 were solely based on interview data. Foucault was the most commonly cited theorist (n = 47), particularly in medical education articles. The quality of articles varied: many did not provide a clear articulation what was meant by discourse, definitions and methodological choices were often misaligned, there was a lack of detail regarding data collection and analysis, and positionality statements and critiques were often underdeveloped or absent. DISCUSSION: Seeking to address these many lacunae, the authors present a framework to facilitate rigorous discourse analysis research and transparent, complete and accurate reporting of the same, to help readers assess the trustworthiness of the findings from discourse analysis in HPE. Scholars are encouraged to reflect more deeply on the applications and practices of discourse analysis, with the ultimate aim of ensuring more breadth and depth when using discourse analysis for understanding and constructing meaning in our field.

Unravelling epistemic injustice in medical education: The case of the underperforming learner.

CONTEXT: Epistemic injustice refers to a wrong done to someone in their capacity as a knower. While philosophers have detailed the pervasiveness of this issue within healthcare, it is only beginning to be discussed by medical educators. The purpose of this article is to expand the field's understanding of this concept and to demonstrate how it can be used to reframe complex problems in medical education. METHODS: After outlining the basic features of epistemic injustice, we clarify its intended (and unintended) meaning and detail what is required for a perceived harm to be named an epistemic injustice. Using an example from our own work on introversion in undergraduate medical education, we illustrate what epistemic injustice might look like from the perspectives of both educators and students and show how the concept can reorient our perspective on academic underperformance. RESULTS: Epistemic injustice results from two things: (1) social power dynamics that give some individuals control over others, and (2) identity prejudice that is associated with discriminatory stereotypes. This can lead to one, or both, forms of epistemic injustice: testimonial and hermeneutical. Our worked example demonstrates how medical educators can be unaware of when and how epistemic injustice is happening, yet the effects on students' well-being and sense of selves can be profound. Thinking about academic underperformance with epistemic injustice in mind can reveal an emphasis within current educational practices on diagnosing learning deficiencies, to the detriment of holistically representing its socially constructed and structural nature. CONCLUSIONS: This article builds upon recent calls to recognise epistemic injustice in medical education by clarifying its terminology and intended use and providing in-depth application and analysis to a particular case: underperformance and the introverted medical student. Equipped with a more sophisticated understanding of the term, medical educators may be able to re-conceptualise long-standing issues including, but also beyond, underperformance.

Front row seat: The role MMI assessors play in widening access to medical school.

BACKGROUND: While many medical schools utilize the Multiple Mini-Interview (MMI) to help select a diverse student body, we know little about MMI assessors' roles. Do MMI assessors carry unique insights on widening access (WA) to medical school? Herein we discuss the hidden expertise and insights that assessors contribute to the conversation around WA. METHODS: Ten MMI assessors (1-10 years' experience) participated in semi-structured interviews exploring factors influencing equitable medical school recruitment. Given their thoughtfulness during initial interviews, we invited them for follow-up interviews to gain further insight into their perceived role in WA. Fourteen interviews were conducted and analyzed using a thematic analysis approach. RESULTS: Assessors expressed concerns with diversity in medicine; dissatisfaction with the status quo fueled their contributions to the selection process. Assessors advocated for greater diversity among the assessor pool, citing benefits for all students, not only those from underrepresented groups. They noted that good intentions were not enough and that medical schools can do more to include underrepresented groups' perspectives in the admissions process. CONCLUSION: Our analysis reveals that MMI assessors are committed to WA and make thoughtful contributions to the selection process. A medical school selection process, inclusive of assessors' expertise is an important step in WA.

Two-Dimensional Deaths? A Discourse Analysis of Patient Death in Preclinical Tutorial Cases at a Canadian Medical School.

Introduction: The prospect of death is everywhere, but seldom directly addressed, in undergraduate medical education (UGME). Despite calls for UGME curricula to address the complex social and emotional aspects of death and dying, most curricula focus on biomedical, legal, and logistical aspects, or concentrate these topics within palliative care content and/or in simulations with simulated patients and manikins. We aimed to add to death education scholarship by exploring the complexities of death and dying within two dimensional simulations-i.e., in the text-based cases used in Case-Informed-Learning (CIL). Method: We conducted a critical discourse analysis exploring how death and dying were discursively constructed in the formal, planned curriculum at one medical school. We used two methods: (1) Document Analysis: We developed a template to analyze 127 cases regarding their discursive constructions of death and dying; (2) Longitudinal Interviewing: We conducted semi-structured interviews with a cohort of 12 medical students, twice annually throughout their medical program (total 92 interviews). We collectively analyzed data, attuning to how the format, content, and purpose of each case discursively constructed death and dying. Results: There were 127 tutorial cases included in the undergraduate, pre-clerkship case-informed curriculum. In the five (4%) cases featuring a patient who dies, death and dying were discursively constructed as: (1) predictable; (2) a plot device; (3) a cautionary tale; (4) an epilogue; (5) deliberate and careful; and (6) an absence. Very few cases highlighted death and dying in their titles, learning objectives, or questions, and where it did feature, it was framed a biomedical fact or outcome. Only one case allowed for a nuanced, in-depth and open-ended discussion of patient death and dying, but it was scheduled at a time that prevented meaningful engagement. This glossing over the complexities of death was identified as a missed opportunity by students, who, as their clinical placements loomed, were eager to broach this topic in detail with tutors and other teaching faculty. Discussion: Death was often a conspicuous absence in this CIL curriculum. In the few cases that featured the death of the main patient character, multiple discourses were mobilized that worked together to construct death as something that happens elsewhere, outside the parameters of core curriculum. In other words, death happens-predictably, slowly, as a means to an end and the result of moral failures, in the case or somewhere in the future-but was not the primary concern. To deepen engagement with these subjects in CIL, we encourage medical educators to attend to representations of patient death by considering the format, content, purpose, and timing of these cases. Conclusion: Carefully rendered cases thoughtfully embedded in the curriculum offer tremendous potential. We suggest nuanced cases featuring patient death, with plenty of space and time for discussion, reflection, and storytelling may help address gaps in formal UGME preclinical curricula addressing death and dying.

The burden of grief: A scoping review of nurses' and physicians' experiences throughout the COVID-19 pandemic.

Coping with loss is an unfortunate reality faced by healthcare professionals, and the COVID-19 pandemic exacerbated this challenge for those who worked on the frontlines. Our scoping review aimed to comprehensively map the existing literature pertaining to the experiences of grief among nurses and physicians in the context of the pandemic. Six bibliographic databases were searched in 2022, and a targeted search of gray literature and citation chasing was also performed. After screening a total of 2920 records, we included 173 evidence sources in this review. Data was both analyzed descriptively (e.g., frequency counts and percentages) and using a qualitative content analysis approach. Our findings illuminate the myriad losses experienced by nurses and physicians throughout the pandemic. While the literature portrays the coping mechanisms healthcare professionals have developed personally, there is a pronounced need for increased institutional support to alleviate the burdens they carry.

CARDA: Guiding document analyses in health professions education research.

INTRODUCTION: Documents, from policies and procedures to curriculum maps and examination papers, structure the everyday experiences of health professions education (HPE), and as such can provide a wealth of empirical information. Document analysis (DA) is an umbrella term for a range of systematic research procedures that use documents as data. METHODS: A meta-study review was conducted with the aims of describing the current state of DA in HPE, guiding researchers engaging in DA and improving methodological, analytical and reporting rigour. Structured searches were conducted, returns were filtered for inclusion and the 115 remaining articles were critically analysed for their use of DA methods and methodologies. RESULTS: There was a significant increase in the number of articles reporting the use of DA over time. Sixty-three articles were single method (DA only), while the others were mixed methods research (MMR). Overall, there were major lacunae in terms of why documents were used, how documents were identified, what the authors did and what they found from the documents. This was particularly apparent in MMR where DA reporting was typically poorer than the reporting of other methods in the same paper. DISCUSSION: Given these many lacunae, a framework for reporting on DA research was developed to facilitate rigorous DA research and transparent, complete and accurate reporting of the same, to help readers assess the trustworthiness of the findings from document use and analysis in HPE and, potentially, other domains. It was also noted that there are gaps in HPE knowledge that could be addressed through DA, particularly where documents are conceptualised as more than passive holders of information. Scholars are encouraged to reflect more deeply on the applications and practices of DA, with the ultimate aim of ensuring more substantive and more rigorous use of documents for understanding and constructing meaning in our field.

Learning by doing: A phenomenological study of medical student leaders.

INTRODUCTION: Despite being recognised as a key physician competency, leadership development is an area of improvement especially in undergraduate medical education. We sought to explore the lived experience of leaders who served in elected, representative roles during their time in medical school. METHODS: We used a hermeneutic phenomenological approach to uncover the essence of the medical student leader experience. From late 2020 to early 2021, we interviewed 12 medical residents who served in elected leadership roles from 2015 to 2019. Each participant graduated from a different Canadian medical school. We deliberately chose a limited and historic time period in order for participants to be able to reflect on their past experiences while accounting for differences in the medical student leadership experience over time. We then engaged in a reflexive thematic analysis to generate the final themes. RESULTS: We identified the following five themes: (i) living with busyness, (ii) the role of faculty mentorship and support, (iii) competing demands of leadership, (iv) medical student leadership as enriching and (v) creating better physicians. Though demanding, medical student leadership was found to be rewarding and particularly key in the development of a more well-rounded physician. Furthermore, being well supported by faculty contributed to an overall positive leadership experience. DISCUSSION: In addition to describing the hardships and rewards that make up their experience, this study suggests that medical student leadership can enhance core physician competencies. The findings also support the notion that faculties have an important role to play in supporting medical student leaders.

Negotiating humanity: an ethnography of cadaver-based simulation.

Human body donation (HBD) serves an essential function in many medical schools, particularly in institutions where people engage in cadaver-based simulation (CBS) as a pedagogical approach. The people who facilitate HBD and CBS have a highly specialized skill set, yet their expertise remains largely unacknowledged, and takes place out of sight from the broader medical school community. This manuscript, based on a two-year practice-based ethnography (Structured Observations n = 68 h, Unstructured Observations n = 150 + hours; Interviews n = 24; and Document/Policy Analysis n = 14) illuminates the complex work of HBD. We identify three primary functions of HBD and CBS (1. Cadaver Intake & Administration, 2. Cadaver Preparation, and 3. Cadaver-Based Pedagogy). We describe how medical educators involved in CBS have developed a skillset specific to their role: negotiating humanity.

"There's an Etiquette to Zoom That's Not Really Present In-Person": A Qualitative Study Showing How the Mute Button Shapes Virtual Postpartum Support for New Parents.

Virtual spaces that allow parents in the postpartum period to connect, support each other, and exchange information have been increasing in popularity. With the COVID-19 pandemic, many parents had to rely on virtual platforms as a primary means to connect with others and attend to their postpartum health. This study explored virtual postpartum support sessions through the web-based videoconferencing software, Zoom. Guided by feminist poststructuralism and sociomaterialism, we held seven virtual support sessions for parents caring for a baby 0-12 months in age, in Canada, and interviewed 19 participants about their experiences in the sessions. Our methodological approach allowed us to analyze discourses of (1) parenthood, (2) material realities of virtual environments, and (3) support and information on this virtual platform. The purpose of this research was to understand how technology influences postpartum support and learning through online videoconferencing for parents. Our findings document an overarching discourse of Zoom etiquette by which muting was a discursive practice that all participants used. The consistent use of the mute button while not talking structured conversation in virtual postpartum sessions and resulted in three themes: (1) minimizing disruptions; (2) taking turns; and (3) staying on task. The norm of using the mute button changed how parents received and gave support and information. Based on findings and broader literature, we discuss considerations for facilitation of virtual postpartum support sessions.

A phenomenological exploration of the impact of COVID-19 on the medical education community.

INTRODUCTION: The COVID-19 pandemic has caused unprecedented stress to the medical education community, potentially worsening problems like burnout and work-life imbalance that its members have long been grappling with. However, the collective struggle sparked by the pandemic could generate the critical reflection necessary for transforming professional values and practices for the better. In this hermeneutic phenomenological study, we explore how the community is adapting-and even reconceptualising-their personal and professional roles amidst the COVID-19 crisis. METHOD: Between April and October 2020, we conducted 27 (17F, 10M) semi-structured interviews with medical trainees (8), physicians (8), graduate students (3) and PhD scientists (8) working in medical education in Canada, the United States and Switzerland. Data analysis involved a variety of strategies, including coding for van Manen's four lifeworld existentials, reflexive writing and multiple team meetings. RESULTS: Participants experienced grief related to the loss of long-established personal and professional structures and boundaries, relationships and plans for the future. However, experiences of grief were often conflicting. Some participants also experienced moments of relief, perceiving some losses as metaphorical permissions slips to slow down and focus on their well-being. In turn, many reflected on the opportunity they were being offered to re-imagine the nature of their work. DISCUSSION: Participants' experiences with grief, relief and opportunity resonate with Ratcliffe's account of grief as a process of relearning the world after a significant loss. The dismantling of prior life structures and possibilities incited in participants critical reflection on the nature of the medical education community's professional practices. Participants demonstrated their desire for more flexibility and autonomy in the workplace and a re-adjustment of the values and expectations inherent to their profession. On both individual and systems levels, the community must ensure that long-standing calls for wellness and work-life integration are realised-and persist-after the pandemic is over.

Disruption in the space-time continuum: why digital ethnography matters.

There is increasing interest in the use of ethnography as a qualitative research approach to explore, in depth, issues of culture in health professions education (HPE). Our specific focus in this article is incorporating the digital into ethnography. Digital technologies are pervasively and increasingly shaping the way we interact, behave, think, and communicate as health professions educators and learners. Understanding the contemporary culture(s) of HPE thus means paying attention to what goes on in digital spaces. In this paper, we critically consider some of the potential issues when the field of ethnography exists outside the space time continuum, including the need to engage with theory in research about technology and digital spaces in HPE. After a very brief review of the few HPE studies that have used digital ethnography, we scrutinize what can be gained when ethnography encompasses the digital world, particularly in relation to untangling sociomaterial aspects of HPE. We chart the shifts inherent in conducting ethnographic research within the digital landscape, specifically those related to research field, the role of the researcher and ethical issues. We then use two examples to illustrate possible HPE research questions and potential strategies for using digital ethnography to answer those questions: using digital tools in the conduct of an ethnographic study and how to conduct an ethnography of a digital space. We conclude that acknowledging the pervasiveness of technologies in the design, delivery and experiences of HPE opens up new research questions which can be addressed by embracing the digital in ethnography.

The Lifecycle of a Clinical Cadaver: A Practice-Based Ethnography.

PhenomenonCadavers have long played an important and complex role in medical education. While research on cadaver-based simulation has largely focused on exploring student attitudes and reactions or measuring improvements in procedural performance, the ethical, philosophical, and experiential aspects of teaching and learning with cadavers are rarely discussed. In this paper, we shed new light on the fascinating philosophical moves in which people engage each and every time they find themselves face to face with a cadaver. ApproachOver a two-year period (2018/19-2019/20), we applied ethnographic methods (137 hours of observation, 24 interviews, and the analysis of 22 documents) to shadow the educational cadaver through the practical stages involved in cadaver-based simulation: 1. cadaver preparation, 2. cadaver-based skill practice with physicians and residents, and 3. interment and memorial services. We used Deleuze and Guattari's concepts of becoming and acts of creation to trace the ontological "lifecycle" of an educational cadaver as embedded within everyday work practices. FindingsWe delineated six sub-phases of the lifecycle, through which the cadaver transformed ontologically from person to donor, body, cadaver, educational cadaver, teacher, and loved one/legacy. These shifts involved a network of bureaucratic, technical, educational, and humanistic practices that shaped the way the cadaver was perceived and acted upon at different moments in the lifecycle. By highlighting, at each phase, 1) the ontological transitions of the cadaver, itself, and 2) the practices, events, settings, and people involved in each of these transitions, we explored questions of "being" as it related to the ontological ambiguity of the cadaver: its conceptualization as both person and tool, simultaneously representing life and death. InsightsEngaging deeply with the philosophical questions of cadaver-based simulation (CBS) helped us conceptualize the lifecycle as a series of meaningful and purposeful acts of becoming. Following the cadaver from program entry to interment allowed us to contemplate how its ontological ambiguity shapes every aspect of cadaver-based simulation. We found that in discussions of fidelity in medical simulation, beyond both the physical and functional, it is possible to conceive of a third type: ontological. The humanness of the cadaver makes CBS a unique, irreplaceable, and inherently philosophical, practice.

The curious case of case study research.

The conceptualisation of 'good' medical education research as hypothesis testing to identify universal truths that are generalisable across contexts has been challenged. Joining this conversation, the field of health professions education research is complex and contextual and there are ways of examining and reporting locally based activities and innovations, which can be of general value. This position leads to a focus on case study research (CSR), inquiry bound in time and place that generates thick descriptions and close interpretations to reach explanations. CSR has grown in sophistication in recent years and can inform practice and advance the science of medical and health professions education. The authors evaluated the current state of the science of CSR in the medical education literature by identifying and reviewing 160 papers. Most articles presented as 'case studies' were not in fact CSR. Moreover, most articles failed to go beyond a 'we did this' account. The authors explore definitions of CSR, and they examine dominant CSR methodologists, Yin, Stake and Merriam, and their respective approaches to CSR. They then set out some of the basic tenets of CSR (case definition, methods of data collection and analysis) and consider the logics of CSR (its structures, purposes, assumptions and symbols). CSR challenges are considered next (such as emic and etic perspectives; ethical complexities; generalisability; quality; and reporting and reflexivity). The authors conclude that context is a mechanism, which needs to be understood, and rigorous CSR provides the structures and criticality to do so, opening up new areas of understanding and inquiry.

Twelve tips for medical students to establish a collaborative flashcard project.

Medical students employ various study strategies to master large amounts of information during their medical education. Digital flashcards are an interactive, self-directed study stool that may improve knowledge retention by combining the principles of active recall and spaced-repetition. They may be studied during and beyond undergraduate medical education. However, making flashcards can be an onerous task. In this article, we describe twelve tips on how to establish and maintain a collaborative digital flashcard project based on the undergraduate medical curriculum.

The invisible work of distributed medical education: exploring the contributions of audiovisual professionals, administrative professionals and faculty teachers.

Distributed medical education (DME) is becoming increasingly prevalent. Much of the published literature on DME has focused on the experiences of learners in distributed programs; however, our empirical work leads us to believe that DME changes the context significantly, not only for learners, but also for other important members of the educational community including audiovisual professionals, administrative professionals and faculty teachers. Based on a three-year ethnographic study, we provide a detailed account of how alliances between various workers involved in DME develop to produce and deliver an undergraduate medical curriculum across geographically separate campuses. We explore the question 'What is the work involved in the delivery of a DME program?' and cast a critical gaze on the essential but invisible, and therefore potentially unrecognized and underappreciated, contributions of AV professionals, administrative professionals, and faculty teachers. Our goal is to make visible the complexity of DME, including the essential contributions of these workers. The study was theoretically framed in sociomateriality and conceptually framed in Star and Strauss' notion of articulation work.

Homelessness in the Medical Curriculum: An Analysis of Case-Based Learning Content From One Canadian Medical School.

UNLABELLED: PHENOMENON: Homelessness is a major public health concern. Given that homeless individuals have high rates of mortality and morbidity, are more likely to be users of the healthcare system, and often report unmet health needs, it is important to examine how homelessness is addressed in medical education. We wanted to examine content and framing of issues related to homelessness in the case-based learning (CBL) curriculum and provide insights about whether medical students are being adequately trained to meet the health needs of homeless individuals through CBL. APPROACH: CBL content at a Canadian medical school that featured content related to homelessness was analyzed. Data were extracted from cases for the following variables: curriculum unit (e.g., professionalism/ethics curriculum or biomedical/clinical curriculum), patient characteristics (e.g., age, sex), and medical and social conditions. A thematic analysis was performed on cases related to homelessness. Discrepancies in analysis were resolved by consensus. FINDINGS: Homelessness was mentioned in five (2.6%) of 191 CBL cases in the medical curriculum. Homelessness was significantly more likely to be featured in professionalism/ethics cases than in biomedical/clinical cases (p = .03). Homeless patients were portrayed as socially disadvantaged individuals, and medical learners were prompted to discuss ethical issues related to homeless patients in cases. However, homeless individuals were largely voiceless in cases. Homelessness was associated with serious physical and mental health concerns, but students were rarely prompted to address these concerns. Insights: The health and social needs of homeless individuals are often overlooked in CBL cases in the medical curriculum. Moreover, stereotypes of homelessness may be reinforced through medical training. There are opportunities for growth in addressing the needs of homeless individuals through medical education.

Twelve tips for medical students to facilitate a Photovoice project.

Participatory action projects, such as Photovoice, can provide medical trainees with a unique opportunity for community engagement. Through Photovoice, participants with lived experience engage in dialog and capture photographs of community issues. Participants subsequently develop narratives that accompany photos to raise awareness about community needs. In this paper, we describe twelve tips to develop a Photovoice project and discuss how medical students can engage communities through a participatory action lens. Such an approach not only serves as a method for medical students to learn about social determinants of health through the perspective of lived experience, but also has the capacity of building advocacy and community collaboration skills. Through providing a voice to marginalized individuals using Photovoice, medical students can partner with communities to work toward social change. Photovoice participants also benefit from the project as it provides them with a platform to highlight strengths and weaknesses in their community.

Teaching for the Transition: the Canadian PGY-1 Neurosurgery 'Rookie Camp'.

BACKGROUND: Transitioning from medical school to residency is difficult and stressful, necessitating innovation in easing this transition. In response, a Canadian neurosurgical Rookie Camp was designed and implemented to foster acquisition of technical, cognitive and behavioral skills among incoming Canadian post graduate year one (PGY-1) neurosurgery residents. METHODS: The inaugural Rookie Camp was held in July 2012 in Halifax. The curriculum was developed based on a national needs-assessment and consisted of a pre-course manual, 7 case-based stations, 4 procedural skills stations and 2 group discussions. The content was clinically focused, used a variety of teaching methods, and addressed multiple CanMEDS competencies. Evaluation included participant and faculty surveys and a pre-course, post-course, and 3-month retention knowledge test. RESULTS: 17 of 23 PGY-1 Canadian neurosurgical residents participated in the Camp. All agreed the course content was relevant for PGY-1 training and the experience prepared them for residency. All participants would recommend the course to future neurosurgical residents. A statistically significant improvement was observed in knowledge related to course content (F(2,32) = 7.572, p<0.002). There were no significant differences between post-test and retention-test scores at three months. CONCLUSION: The inaugural Canadian Neurosurgery Rookie Camp for PGY-1 residents was successfully delivered, with engagement from participants, training programs, the Canadian Neurosurgical Society, and the Royal College. In addition to providing fundamental knowledge, which was shown to be retained, the course eased junior residents' transition to residency by fostering camaraderie and socialization within the specialty.