A Subjective Assessment of Medical Student Perceptions on Animal Models in Medical Education

Background There remains increasing societal pressure to limit the use of animals in medical education. The purpose of this study was to explore the subjective perceptions that medical students exposed to an animal model curriculum feel about the laboratory and its continued use. Methods A 6-month p...

Full description

Saved in:
Bibliographic Details
Published in:Journal of surgical education 2014, Vol.71 (1), p.61-64
Main Authors: Daly, Shaun C., MD, Wilson, Nicole A., PhD, Rinewalt, Daniel E., MD, Bines, Steven D., MD, Luu, Minh B., MD, Myers, Jonathan A., MD
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Animals
Animals, Laboratory
Anxiety
Clinical Clerkship
Education, Medical
Female
General Surgery - education
Humans
Male
Medical Knowledge
Prospective Studies
simulation
Stress, Psychological
Students, Medical - psychology
Surgery
surgical education
Surveys and Questionnaires
undergraduate medical education
Citations: Items that this one cites
Items that cite this one
Online Access:Get full text
Tags: Add Tag
No Tags, Be the first to tag this record!
Description
Summary:Background There remains increasing societal pressure to limit the use of animals in medical education. The purpose of this study was to explore the subjective perceptions that medical students exposed to an animal model curriculum feel about the laboratory and its continued use. Methods A 6-month prospective study was performed during the medical college core surgical clerkship. Medical students participated in both a trainer-based simulation workshop (dry laboratory) and a live-tissue animal laboratory (wet laboratory) in addition to their operative experience. Students completed a 23-question Likert survey at the end of the surgical clerkship. Data were compared using the chi-square test. Results More students reported increased subjective stress levels in the wet laboratory (32.4%) compared with the dry laboratory (5.4%, p < 0.001). In addition, more students felt the wet laboratory (vs dry laboratory) prepared them for the anxiety (55.4% vs 24.3%, p < 0.001) and technical demands (67.6% vs 44.6%, p = 0.005) of the operating room. The majority of medical students (>90%) felt the wet laboratory was an important experience and should be continued. Conclusions The results of this study show a subjective benefit perceived by medical students when it comes to participation in an animal laboratory during their surgical clerkship. As such, over 90% of participating medical students feel the animal laboratory is important in medical education and should be continued in their surgical curriculum.
ISSN:1931-7204
1878-7452
DOI:10.1016/j.jsurg.2013.06.017