Title : The unclosed gap: The role of student led societies in improving undergraduate medical student’s basic surgical skills
Abstract:
Aim: To evaluate undergraduate medical students’ confidence in basic surgical skills and the impact of student-led extracurricular teaching on skill improvement.
Methods: We ran three 90-minute suturing sessions with a total of 28 undergraduate medical students, each receiving individual guidance from core surgical trainees (CST) using Peyton’s four-step teaching framework. The student to CST ratio was 5:1. Using a five-point Likert scale, the confidence of these students before and after the session were recorded and analysed with an unequal variance t-test. Qualitative feedback was analysed using thematic synthesis.
Result: A single 90-minute session significantly increased suturing confidence (mean±SD of 1.67±1.0 before vs 3.82±0.6 after, p<0.0001) by 2.2 points [95%CI 1.7–2.60]. A low baseline confidence of 1.7 demonstrated the medical course’s insufficiency and the sessions’ significance. Thematic synthesis highlighted the value of individualised, hands-on teaching by approachable CST tutors that students felt amiss from their medical education, as exemplified by a student, “I now feel confident to suture on a patient.”
Conclusion: The General Medical Council states, students must be confident in suturing upon becoming a resident doctor. The results identify a clear local gap in curriculum which is consistent with national studies. By incentivising student led organisation of sessions, we expect an increase in student initiative during surgical rotations. Additionally, increased confidence of newly qualified doctors will lead to reduced wound care wait times and ease senior doctor’s workload.
