title: Neurosurgery Elective for Preclinical Medical Students: Early Exposure and Changing Attitudes.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  Exposure to surgical subspecialties is limited during the preclinical years of medical school. To offset this limitation, the authors created a neurosurgery elective for first- and second-year medical students. The objective was to provide each student with early exposure to neurosurgery by combining clinical experience with faculty discussions about the academic and personal realities of a career in neurosurgery.
  
  
  METHODS
  From 2012 to 2013, the authors offered a neurosurgery elective course to first- and second-year medical students. Each class consisted of the following: 1) peer-reviewed article analysis; 2) student presentation; 3) faculty academic lecture; 4) faculty personal lecture with question and answer period.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Thirty-five students were enrolled over a 2-year period. After completing the elective, students were more likely to: consider neurosurgery as a future career (P < 0.0001), perceive the personalities of attending physicians to be more collegial and friendly (P = 0.0002), perceive attending quality of life to be higher (P < 0.0001), and believe it was achievable to be a neurosurgeon and have a family (P < 0.0001). The elective did not alter students' perceived difficulty of training (P = 0.7105).
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  The neurosurgery elective course significantly increased student knowledge across several areas and changed perceptions about collegiality, quality of life, and family-work balance, while not altering the students' views about the difficulty of training. Adopting a neurosurgery elective geared towards preclinical medical students can significantly change attitudes about the field of neurosurgery and has potential to increase interest in pursuing a career in neurosurgery.
authors.affiliation: Department of Neurological Surgery, Vanderbilt University Medical Center, Nashville, Tennessee, USA. Electronic address: scott.zuckerman@vanderbilt.edu.
authors.forename: Scott L
authors.initials: SL
authors.lastname: Zuckerman
authors.affiliation: Department of Neurological Surgery, Vanderbilt University Medical Center, Nashville, Tennessee, USA.
authors.forename: Akshitkumar M
authors.initials: AM
authors.lastname: Mistry
authors.affiliation: Department of Neurological Surgery, Louisiana State University Medical Center, Shreveport, Louisiana, USA.
authors.forename: Rimal
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Hanif
authors.affiliation: Department of Neurological Surgery, Vanderbilt University Medical Center, Nashville, Tennessee, USA.
authors.forename: Lola B
authors.initials: LB
authors.lastname: Chambless
authors.affiliation: Department of Neurological Surgery, Vanderbilt University Medical Center, Nashville, Tennessee, USA.
authors.forename: Joseph S
authors.initials: JS
authors.lastname: Neimat
authors.affiliation: Department of Neurological Surgery, Vanderbilt University Medical Center, Nashville, Tennessee, USA.
authors.forename: John C
authors.initials: JC
authors.lastname: Wellons
authors.affiliation: Department of Neurological Surgery, Mount Sinai Medical Center, New York, New York, USA.
authors.forename: J
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Mocco
authors.affiliation: Department of Neurological Surgery, Vanderbilt University Medical Center, Nashville, Tennessee, USA.
authors.forename: Allen K
authors.initials: AK
authors.lastname: Sills
authors.affiliation: Carolina Neurosurgery and Spine Associates, Charlotte, North Carolina, USA.
authors.forename: Matthew J
authors.initials: MJ
authors.lastname: McGirt
authors.affiliation: Department of Neurological Surgery, Vanderbilt University Medical Center, Nashville, Tennessee, USA.
authors.forename: Reid C
authors.initials: RC
authors.lastname: Thompson
mesh_terms: D001290:Attitude; D002321:Career Choice; D003479:Curriculum; D004504:Education, Medical, Undergraduate; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D009493:Neurosurgery / Q000193:education*; D013337:Students, Medical / Q000523:psychology*; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires
keywords: Education; Medical student education; Mentorship; Recruitment; Residency