title: Surgent University: the establishment and evaluation of a national online clinical teaching repository for surgical trainees and students.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  The aim of this study was to develop a new teaching strategy for medical students while creating a national online repository system (Surgent University). Then, the potential of this e-learning modality to facilitate learning of clinical surgery was evaluated.
  
  
  METHODS
  An online repository and Internet-based interface was designed and hosted on the medical education Web site, www.surgent.ie. Participation was by medical students across 3 Irish universities. Student use of the repository was quantitatively assessed over an 8-week period. They were then invited to complete an anonymous survey assessing the effectiveness of the online repository. Statistical analysis was performed using SPSS version 15, with P < .05 considered significant.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Over the study period, the online repository received 6105 uploaded facts by 182 final-year medical students from 3 different universities. The repository Web pages were accessed 54 061 times with 4609 individual searches of the repository. Of the 60 participating students invited to provide survey-based feedback, there were 40 respondents, giving a 66.7% response rate. Of those surveyed, 70% (n = 28) rated the online repository as highly beneficial and 75% (n = 30) as highly relevant. Overall, 87.5% (n = 35) felt that it should be continued, and 70% (n = 28) felt that it should be expanded beyond surgery to include other hospital specialties. Those finding the program interface user-friendly were more likely to find it beneficial (P = .031) and relevant to their ongoing education (P = .002).
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  A user-friendly interface allows for high levels of usage, whereas a "student-centered" structure ensures that the facts uploaded are beneficial and relevant to medical students' education.
authors.affiliation: Beaumont Hospital, Dublin, Ireland. markcorrigan@rcsi.ie
authors.forename: Mark
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Corrigan
authors.forename: Seamus
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: McHugh
authors.forename: Athar
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Sheikh
authors.forename: Elaine
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Lehane
authors.forename: Conor
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Shields
authors.forename: Paul
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Redmond
authors.forename: Michael
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Kerin
authors.forename: Arnold
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Hill
mesh_terms: D016208:Databases, Factual; D004501:Education, Medical / Q000379:methods* / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D013502:General Surgery / Q000193:education*; D006801:Humans; D020407:Internet; D010549:Personal Satisfaction; D013337:Students, Medical / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D014584:User-Computer Interface