Student perception of the first surgical clerkship - abstract

ABSTRACT

This study was undertaken in order to obtain the student view of the first surgical clerkship whereas, previously, only student performance had been assessed. It was begun in 1985 and covers graduating classes 1988 to 1990. A simple anonymous questionnaire consisting of two sections was handed to each student at the end of this ten-week clerkship, immediately after the Multiple-choice paper. The completed forms were collected as the students left the examination room. Two hundred and fifty-nine questionnaires were collected and analysed. The majority of respondents felt that the clerkship was well organised and that members of staff were generally willing to teach. Nearly one-quarter found the operating theatre experience to be poor, but the majority (67 percent) felt it had been useful. One hundred and sixty-one students responded to the section which asked for comments and criticisms of the rotation. Three main areas of discontent were identified, viz., teachers were sometimes unavailable, the teaching should have a stronger patient orientation and the clash with the pathology/microbiology programme which affected the rotation adversely (AU)