Winning Hearts and Minds: Inspiring Medical Students into Cardiothoracic Surgery Through Highly Interactive Workshops

• Published in: Journal of surgical education 2017-03, Vol.74 (2), p.372-376
• Main Authors: George, Joseph, MRCS, Combellack, Tom, MRCS, Lopez-Marco, Ana, MRCS, Aslam, Umair, MRCS, Ahmed, Yasir, MRCS, Nanjaiah, Prakash, MRCS, Youhana, Aprim, FRCS, Kumar, Pankaj, FRCS
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Career Choice; Decision Making; Education - organization & administration; Education, Medical, Undergraduate - methods; Female; Humans; Interpersonal and Communication Skills; Male; Organizational Innovation; Practice-Based Learning and Improvement; Program Evaluation; recruitment; Schools, Medical - organization & administration; Students, Medical - psychology; Students, Medical - statistics & numerical data; Surgery; surgical training; Surveys and Questionnaires; thoracic surgery; Thoracic Surgical Procedures - education; United Kingdom; Young Adult
• ISSN: 1931-7204; 1878-7452
• DOI: 10.1016/j.jsurg.2016.10.002

Background The cardiothoracic surgical (CTS) specialty has witnessed a decline in the applicant pool. Early exposure, positive experiences, inspiring role models, and career insight are key in the decision­making process for specialty choice. Our objective was to assess the effect of high tutor:student ratio interactive CTS workshops in influencing the career choice of UK undergraduate medical students. Methods Medical students attended a workshop comprising (1) guided dissection of fresh animal hearts, (2) surgical skills practice on models and fresh hearts, (3) operative videos (adult, congenital, transplant, and aortic) with interactive commentary, and (4) careers seminar. The tutor:student ratio was very high (between 3­1 and 5­1). A questionnaire was completed at the end of each workshop to assess its effect, including a 10-point Likert scale on the perceived attraction to CTS before and after the workshop. Results A total of 96 delegates attended 5 workshops in 3 UK medical schools. Response rate was 83% from 80 undergraduate students. In all, 58% were male (46/80). There was an equal proportion of sexes in the early years of medical school, but was significantly skewed toward male in the later years. There was a statistically significant increase of 2.1 (standard deviation [SD] = 1.5) in the Likert scores before ( μ = 5.0, SD = 2.1) and after ( μ = 7.1, SD = 1.9) (p = 0.001). This represents a 42% increase in the perceived attraction to the CTS specialty because of the workshops. Conclusions Our workshops have a significant effect in stimulating undergraduate medical students toward a career in cardiothoracic surgery. We encourage national take­up of these easily organized daylong workshops to foster interest in the next generation of cardiothoracic surgeons.