Preparatory surgical bootcamp: An effective form of training with a positive impact on self-confidence and procedural skills of the residents

Abstract

• Pre-internship surgical bootcamps improve knowledge and residents’ self-confidence. • Perceived usefulness may be correlated with feelings of ease and competence. • Surgical training delivery at a time of transition is acclaimed by the students. • Medical students show low levels of acute stress before they begin their internship. To evaluate the impact of a bootcamp for new residents in surgery, in terms of both knowledge and skills improvement and psychological support. Prospective inclusion of all the 59 new residents in surgery from 2018 to 2020. Analysis of their perception of the training and comparison of the bootcamp and control groups ( n = 9, including the residents who could not attend the bootcamp) with respect to the results of their skills evaluations and surgical knowledge. A two-day bootcamp is organized every year in October since 2013 at the All'Sims simulation center (University Hospital, Angers, France) just before the beginning of the internship. A subsequent skills evaluation takes place partly in the operating room and partly as an objective structured clinical examination (OSCE). New residents from the different surgical specialties and gynecology, after having given their written consent. Among the 50 residents who attended the bootcamp, knowledge in surgical skills improved by 10% ( p <0.001). The median skills score on each OSCE station was at least one point higher in the bootcamp group than in the control group, predominantly in the suturing task (13.9+/-3.0 vs 11.5 +/- 1.6, p = 0.03). The reported usefulness level of the different surgical skills training when evaluated in consideration of daily practice varied from 50% to 95%. Feelings of ease and competency were quite well correlated with the reported usefulness of a given skill, especially since the task was a more generic one. Preparatory courses are of great interest for all surgical specialties as they improve procedural skills and knowledge as well as self-confidence during the first weeks of a resident's internship. As medical training continues to vary significantly between the different universities, such surgical curricula should be developed at a national level to standardize the surgical level of all new residents