American College of Surgeons/Association for Surgical Education medical student simulation-based surgical skills curriculum needs assessment.
BACKGROUND
Simulation can enhance learning effectiveness, efficiency, and patient safety and is engaging for learners.


METHODS
A survey was conducted of surgical clerkship directors nationally and medical students at 5 medical schools to rank and stratify simulation-based educational topics. Students applying to surgery were compared with others using Wilcoxon's rank-sum tests.


RESULTS
Seventy-three of 163 clerkship directors (45%) and 231 of 872 students (26.5%) completed the survey. Of students, 28.6% were applying for surgical residency training. Clerkship directors and students generally agreed on the importance and timing of specific educational topics. Clerkship directors tended to rank basic skills, such as examination skills, higher than medical students. Students ranked procedural skills, such as lumbar puncture, more highly than clerkship directors.


CONCLUSIONS
Surgery clerkship directors and 4th-year medical students agree substantially about the content of a simulation-based curriculum, although 4th-year medical students recommended that some topics be taught earlier than the clerkship directors recommended. Students planning to apply to surgical residencies did not differ significantly in their scoring from students pursuing nonsurgical specialties.
Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA, USA.
Charity C
CC
Glass
University of Minnesota Medical School, Minneapolis, MN, USA.
Robert D
RD
Acton
Division of Education, American College of Surgeons, Chicago, IL, USA.
Patrice G
PG
Blair
School of Medicine, University of California, San Francisco, San Francisco, CA, USA.
Andre R
AR
Campbell
Children's Hospital of Philadelphia, Philadelphia, PA, USA.
Ellen S
ES
Deutsch
Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA, USA; Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center, 330 Brookline Avenue, Boston, MA 02215, USA. Electronic address: djones1@bidmc.harvard.edu.
Daniel B
DB
Jones
Baylor College of Medicine, Houston, TX, USA.
Kathleen R
KR
Liscum
Division of Education, American College of Surgeons, Chicago, IL, USA.
Ajit K
AK
Sachdeva
University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center, Dallas, TX, USA.
Daniel J
DJ
Scott
Clerkship Directors Committee, Association for Surgical Education, Springfield, IL, USA.
Stephen C
SC
Yang
D002982:Clinical Clerkship / Q000379:methods*; D002983:Clinical Competence; D003198:Computer Simulation; D003479:Curriculum / Q000592:standards*; D004501:Education, Medical / Q000379:methods*; D013502:General Surgery / Q000193:education*; D006801:Humans; D012577:Schools, Medical; D013337:Students, Medical; D014481:United States
Medical education; Medical student education; Simulation