Faculty Led Senior Medical Student Skills Course Effectively Prepares Students for Surgery Residency

Abstract

With the advent of residency work hour restrictions along with increasing monetary and time restraints to operating room training, we have made efforts to use the fourth year of medical school to teach surgical skills. For the past seven years we have provided a (spring semester) senior medical school course called Advanced Surgical Skills to students entering surgical specialties. This is a one month class with forty hours a week of instruction and simulation taught by surgical faculty. Students have concentrated experience in surgical anatomy including cadaver dissection, laparoscopic simulation and tasks central to the FLS skills, basic surgical skill modules (including instruments, knot tying, suturing, anastamosis, etc) ultrasound simulation, and practical instruction in basic clinical management problems .