Perception of Plastic Surgery Among Medical Students

Abstract

Introduction: Misconception of plastic surgery as a purely aesthetic specialty is common among medical students and interns. This study aims to assess the perception of medical students and interns on plastic surgery in Saudi Arabia and Canada. Materials and Methods: A cross-sectional study was conducted on February 2020 targeting first to last year medical students and interns in Saudi Arabia (IAU, KAUH) and Canada (McGill). Convenient sampling technique was used. Online based and paper questionnaires consisting of 21 questions addressing participants’ demographics as well as a list of various medical scenarios that require participants to choose the most appropriate specialty to refer to. These scenarios aim to assess the broad understanding of the participants of the various pathologies treated by plastic surgeons. Results: A total of 729 students were included in this study, where 27.5% of them were second year medical student, 25.3% were third year, 14.4% fourth year, 11.2% interns and 21.6% other levels (Table 3). Geographical distribution demonstrates that 86.8% of the students were from Saudi Arabia and 13.2% were from Canada (Table 1). The data analysis demonstrated that only 3 questions of the plastic surgery were answered correctly including liposuction (73.7% correct answers), facial sagging (67.2%) and congenital adhesion (52.5%) as shown in Figure 1. The rest of the 9 questions were answered incorrectly, indicating that most of the students misinterpret the various services that plastic surgeons can offer. Conclusion: This data suggests that plastic surgery is still commonly perceived as a merely aesthetic specialty among medical students. We recommend increasing the exposure to plastic surgery for medical students during clinical years to enhance their awareness about the armamentarium of the plastic surgeon.