title: Medical student expectations from surgical education: A two-year institutional experience.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  The third-year surgical rotation is the first exposure medical students have to the fundamentals of surgical education. It is known that medical students come to the surgical clerkship with preconceived ideas, many of them negative and based on prior student feedback and hearsay.
  
  
  METHODS
  An anonymous survey was conducted of third-year medical students while on the surgical clerkship. We sought to quantify student's experiences and expectations by assessing the students' confidence levels before and after the rotation.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Over a 26 month period from July 2013-August 2015, 250 surveys were conducted. In terms of confidence gained on the surgical rotation, students reported a statistically significant (p < 0.01) increase in confidence in fifteen different areas of interest. However, in terms of expectations, students reported discordance between anticipated experience and actual experience. Students' responses indicate that students felt confident with their knowledge of diseases; however, they desire more involvement in complex patient care and procedural skills.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  The third-year clerkship is the first exposure to surgery for many medical students. Surgical educators are tasked with providing a foundation for clinical medicine; however, students have expressed an expectation to be more involved with complex patient care and management.
authors.affiliation: University of Oklahoma, College of Medicine, Department of Surgery, USA. Electronic address: alessandra-landmann@ouhsc.edu.
authors.forename: Alessandra
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Landmann
authors.affiliation: Orlando Regional Medical Center, Department of Surgical Education, USA.
authors.forename: William S
authors.initials: WS
authors.lastname: Havron
authors.affiliation: University of Oklahoma, College of Medicine, Department of Surgery, USA.
authors.forename: Arpit
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Patel
authors.affiliation: Penn State College of Medicine, Department of Medical Education, USA.
authors.forename: Britta M
authors.initials: BM
authors.lastname: Thompson
authors.affiliation: University of Oklahoma, College of Medicine, Department of Surgery, USA.
authors.forename: Jason S
authors.initials: JS
authors.lastname: Lees
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D001290:Attitude; D002982:Clinical Clerkship; D004504:Education, Medical, Undergraduate; D005260:Female; D013502:General Surgery / Q000193:education*; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D012718:Set, Psychology; D013337:Students, Medical / Q000523:psychology*
keywords: Medical education; Surgical education