Mandatory Surgical Subinternship in the Final Year of Medical School - a Stepping Stone to Becoming a Surgeon?

Abstract

The final year is an important time for a medical student as this is when medical knowledge is transformed into medical responsibilities. The field of surgery is firmly anchored in the educational structure as it is mandatory during the practical year of a medical student. The purpose of this paper is to identify factors that influence medical students to choose surgery after the final year of medical school. An online survey conducted by the AG DGOU 2012 provided complete data sets from a total of 9079 participants. 184 of these had already completed their PJ compulsory sub-internship (tertiary) surgery. These were divided into four groups for analysis: decision to specialise in surgery prior to the PJ compulsory tertiary ("yes, before", JV), during the PJ compulsory ("yes, during", JW), decision against before the PJ compulsory ("no, before", NV) or during the compulsory ("no, during", NW). The total of 38 survey items were summarised for overall assessment, taking into account the decision on subject specialisation. 57.9% of the respondents were positive regarding the overall impression of the surgical internship during their final year. The respondents of the JW group were especially positive, having made the decision to become a surgeon, based on their internship experience during the final year in comparison to the NW group (decision against surgery). We find significant differences in all analysed items: integration into team JW/NW (p ≤ 0.003), acquisition of expertise (p ≤ 0.014), teachers (p ≤ 0.025), quality and structure of teaching (p ≤ 0.043) and overall satisfaction with the required tertial (p ≤ 0.037). In comparison to other specialities, in the field of surgery there is the option of recruiting directly within the framework of the compulsory internship. The results reveal unsatisfactory structures from a student perspective. The lack of medical care/support, the insufficient inclusion in therapeutic considerations, the lack of professional knowledge and lack of contact with the teachers are just a few key points that negatively impact the overall outcome of students' satisfaction with the compulsory tertiary education. The results of the present study should serve as motivation and contribute to the restructuring of the compulsory core of the Practical Year, which the Master Plan 2020 will entail.