Promoting Undergraduate Surgical Education: Current Evidence and Students' Views on ESMSC International Wet Lab Course.
BACKGROUND
Undergraduate Surgical Education is becoming an essential element in the training of the future generation of safe and efficient surgeons. Essential Skills in the Management of Surgical Cases (ESMSC), is an international, joint applied surgical science and simulation-based learning wet lab course.


METHODS
We performed a review of the existing literature on the topic of undergraduate surgical education. Following that, we analyzed the feedback questionnaire received 480 from 2 recent series of ESMSC courses (May 2015, n = 49 and November 2015, n = 40), in order to evaluate European Union students' (UK, Germany, Greece) views on the ESMSC course, as well as on the undergraduate surgical education. Results Using a 10 point graded scale, the overall ESMSC concept was positively evaluated, with a mean score of 9.41 ± 0.72 (range: 8-10) and 8.94 ± 1.1 (range: 7-10). The majority of delegates from both series [9.86 ± 0.43 (range: 8-10) and 9.58 ± 0.91 (range: 6-10), respectively] believed that ESMSC should be incorporated in the undergraduate surgical curriculum. Comparison of responses from the UK to the Greek Medical Student, as well as the findings from the third and fourth year versus the fifth and sixth year Medical Students, revealed no statistically significant differences pertaining to any of the questions (p > 0.05).


CONCLUSIONS
Current evidence in the literature supports the enhancement of surgical education through the systematic use of various modalities that provide Simulation-Based Training (SBT) hands-on experience, starting from the early undergraduate level. The findings of the present study are in agreement with these previous reports.
a NIHR Academic Clinical Fellow ST1 level , The London Deanery, Queen Mary's University London (QMUL) , London , UK , Lead of the ESMSC Project.
Michail
M
Sideris
b Equal Contribution with 1st Author, Director of the Experimental Research Centre ELPEN , Lead of the ESMSC Project.
Apostolos
A
Papalois
c ST1 Trainee in Ophthalmology , Kent, Surrey, Sussex (KSS) Deanery.
Korina
K
Theodoraki
d Consultant in Diabetes and Endocrine Medicine , Plymouth Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust.
Ioannis
I
Dimitropoulos
e Associate Professor of Anatomy , National and Kapodistrian University of Athens.
Elizabeth O
EO
Johnson
f Medical Student , National and Kapodistrian University of Athens.
Efstratia-Maria
EM
Georgopoulou
g Medical Student , Aristotle University of Thessaloniki (AUTH).
Nikolaos
N
Staikoglou
g Medical Student , Aristotle University of Thessaloniki (AUTH).
Georgios
G
Paparoidamis
g Medical Student , Aristotle University of Thessaloniki (AUTH).
Panteleimon
P
Pantelidis
f Medical Student , National and Kapodistrian University of Athens.
Ismini
I
Tsagkaraki
f Medical Student , National and Kapodistrian University of Athens.
Stefanos
S
Karamaroudis
h Assistant Professor of Orthopedic Surgery , Aristotle University of Thessaloniki (AUTH).
Michael E
ME
Potoupnis
i Associate Professor of Orthopedic Surgery , Aristotle University of Thessaloniki (AUTH).
Eleftherios
E
Tsiridis
j Consultant Cardiothoracic Surgeon , Evangelismos Hospital , Athens.
Panagiotis
P
Dedeilias
k Consultant Colorectal Surgeon , King's College Hospital NHS Foundation Trust, Senior Clinical Lecturer in Surgery, King's College London , London , UK.
Savvas
S
Papagrigoriadis
l Consultant Transplant Surgeon , Hammersmith Hospital, London, UK, Professor of Surgery , Imperial College , London , UK.
Vassilios
V
Papalois
m Professor of Surgery, Vice Rector , University of Athens, Director of 1st Surgical Department , Hippocratio General Hospital, Athens , Greece.
Georgios
G
Zografos
n Associate Professor of Biochemistry , University of Athens , Athens , Greece.
Aggeliki
A
Triantafyllou
o Assistant Professor of Surgery , Aristotle University of Thessaloniki (AUTH).
Georgios
G
Tsoulfas
D000328:Adult; D003479:Curriculum; D004504:Education, Medical, Undergraduate / Q000379:methods*; D005260:Female; D013502:General Surgery / Q000193:education*; D005858:Germany; D006115:Greece; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D000066908:Simulation Training; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires; D006113:United Kingdom; D055815:Young Adult
basic surgical training; ex vivo; in vivo; simulation-based training; undergraduate surgical education; wet lab