Encouraging medical students to become surgeons? Impact of psychological and surgical factors on career choice at medical school.

Aim: Training decisions are viewed as a problem by the majority of medical students.In the present study we compared sociodemographic and psychological characteristics of students who are interested in surgical training to those who preferred a non-surgical specialty. Furthermore, we examined whether students who wish to be trained as surgeons performed better than their non-surgical counterparts in a course designed to acquire skills in minimally invasive surgery. Method: From October 2020 to January 2021 we performed a cross-sectional survey among 116 medical students prior to their year of practical training at Christian-Albrechts University in Kiel. Based on their intended field of specialization, the students were divided into a non-surgical and a surgical group. Sociodemographic and psychological characteristics such as self-efficacy expectations, resilience and stress perception were evaluated and compared between groups. Simultaneously, we compared their surgical performance in two laparoscopic exercises and their self-assessment as surgeons. Statistical differences between the training groups were determined by the Mann-Whitney U test or Pearson's Chi square test. Results: Ninety-two students participated in the study, of whom 64.1% intended to train in a non-surgical specialty and 35.9% in a surgical specialty. Students who wished to be trained as surgeons had higher general self-efficacy expectations (p<0.001) and greater resilience (p=0.009). However, on comparison they had a lower stress level (p=0.047). The inter-group comparison of training results and self-assessment as surgeons revealed no unequivocal differences in surgical performance. Conclusion: Interest in surgical specialties is correlated, among other factors, with the strength of psychological skills such as general self-efficacy expectations, resilience and stress perception. Early attention to these psychological resources in academic training might assist medical students in future career choices.

MANGOU (Miyazaki Advanced New General Surgery of University) Wet Lab Training Relieves Anxiety About Surgical Skills in Surgical Education: A Cross-Sectional Study.

PURPOSE: To increase the number of medical students or residents who want to become surgeons, we must evaluate our program that recruits new young surgeons. METHODS: We planned surgical training programs for medical students and residents that we named the MANGOU (Miyazaki Advanced New General surgery Of University) training project in the Department of Surgery, Miyazaki University, Japan. From January 2016 through December 2022, we asked trainees who attended this training to complete questionnaires to evaluate their interest in surgery, confidence in surgical skills, and training. Scoring of the questionnaire responses was based on a 5-point Likert scale, and we evaluated this training prospectively. RESULTS: Among the 109 trainees participating in this training, 61 answered the questionnaires. Two participants found the training boring, but 59 (96.7%) enjoyed it. All of them answered "Yes" to wanting to participate in the next training. Respective pre- and post-training scores were as follows: confidence in surgical skills, 2.2 ± 1.0 and 3.0 ± 1.0 (p < 0.0001); interest in surgery, 4.2 ± 0.8 and 4.4 ± 0.5 (p = 0.0011); and willingness to become surgeons, 3.9 ± 0.7 and 4.1 ± 0.6 (p = 0.0011). All scores rose after MANGOU training. CONCLUSION: We planned MANGOU surgical wet lab training for medical students and residents that aimed to educate and recruit new surgeons. After joining the MANGOU training, the trainees' anxiety about surgery was reduced, their confidence in performing surgical procedures improved, they showed more interest in surgery, and they increased their motivation to become surgeons.

Students' Interest in Surgery Affects Laparoscopic Practicing Performance.

BACKGROUND AND OBJECTIVE: Earlier exposure to laparoscopic techniques is thought to be beneficial for medical students. Reports have demonstrated that practice improves performance in laparoscopies. In this study, we intended to evaluate whether medical students' interest in surgery is affected by the amount of practice and the performance on a laparoscopic simulator. METHODS: A laparoscopic simulation curriculum was introduced at Taipei Medical University, Wan-Fang Medical Center. Study participants included 36 sixth-year and 14 seventh-year students who were divided according to whether they had indicated an interest (group A) or not (group B) in surgery. The students had twice-a-week practice sessions for 2 weeks. They underwent baseline measurement (BM) before training and posttraining measurement (PTM). Self-guided practice on the simulator was allowed. The learning outcomes were assessed comparing the BM and PTM scores by using the interquartile range (IQR) test. We also tested the correlation between total score and number of self-guided practice sessions. RESULTS: All study participants showed improvement. No differences were observed between BM and PTM scores and between 6th- and 7th-year medical students. Significant differences were found in PTM scores between groups A and B (P < .001). Analysis of variance with a post hoc test for different groups revealed that the PTMs were significantly higher for both the 6th- and 7th-year medical students in group A than for those in group B (P < .001). Total performance scores were improved with a higher number of self-guided practice sessions. Linear regression analysis demonstrated a significant correlation between the number of self-guided practice sessions and total performance score (P < .001). CONCLUSION: Those clerks and interns interested in surgery who had more sessions for self-guided practice, displayed more improvement than those not interested in surgery did. Improvement in performance correlated highly with trainees' number of self-guided practice sessions.