title: Plastic surgery in the Norwegian undergraduate medical curriculum: students' knowledge and attitudes. A nationwide case-control study.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  Changes in medical education have resulted in less available time for plastic surgery, which might jeopardise the availability of plastic surgery for patients. The aims of this study were to investigate the level of knowledge within and attitudes towards plastic surgery among medical students, and find predictors for a wish to pursue a career in plastic surgery.
  
  
  METHODS
  A previously used questionnaire was sent to all clinical medical students. Law students were used as a control group.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Thirty per cent of all clinical medical students in the country responded. The majority of students considered education in plastic surgery valuable/very valuable and 23% were considering it as a career. Nonetheless, about half of the students were unaware of the plastic surgical education at their faculty and reported non-academic sources of learning. Only 44% of medical students were able to name five common plastic surgical procedures and 8% were unable to name any. Law students were superior to medical students in the task (p = 0.005). Forty-two per cent of medical students were successful in indicating on which body parts plastic surgeons operate, whereas law students were less successful (p = 0.001). Male gender and positive valuing of clinical attachment could predict a wish for a career in plastic surgery.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  In some aspects, medical students are only as knowledgeable as their non-medical peers. These results call for higher quality plastic surgery teaching, to secure referral of the correct patients and successful specialist recruitment to plastic surgery.
authors.affiliation: a Department of Plastic and Reconstructive Surgery , Haukeland University Hospital , Bergen , Norway.|b Department of Clinical Medicine , University of Bergen , Bergen , Norway.
authors.forename: Stian K
authors.initials: SK
authors.lastname: Almeland
authors.affiliation: b Department of Clinical Medicine , University of Bergen , Bergen , Norway.|c Department of Anaesthesiology and Intensive Care , Haukeland University Hospital , Bergen , Norway.
authors.forename: Anne Berit
authors.initials: AB
authors.lastname: Guttormsen
authors.affiliation: d Department of Plastic and Reconstructive Surgery , University Hospital of North Norway, Institute of Clinical Medicine, University of Tromsø, the Arctic University of Norway , Tromsø , Norway.
authors.forename: Louis
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: de Weerd
authors.affiliation: e Department of Plastic and Reconstructive Surgery , St Olav's University Hospital , Trondheim , Norway.
authors.forename: Håvard B
authors.initials: HB
authors.lastname: Nordgaard
authors.affiliation: f Department of Plastic and Reconstructive Surgery , Skåne University Hospital, Malmö, Lund University, Clinical Sciences , Malmö , Sweden.
authors.forename: Carolin
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Freccero
authors.affiliation: f Department of Plastic and Reconstructive Surgery , Skåne University Hospital, Malmö, Lund University, Clinical Sciences , Malmö , Sweden.
authors.forename: Emma
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Hansson
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D001291:Attitude of Health Personnel; D016022:Case-Control Studies; D002983:Clinical Competence; D003479:Curriculum; D004504:Education, Medical, Undergraduate; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D009664:Norway; D013337:Students, Medical; D013518:Surgery, Plastic / Q000193:education*; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires; D055815:Young Adult
keywords: Attitudes; education; knowledge; plastic surgery; recruitment; training; undergraduate