LETTER TO THE EDITOR
Surgical Societies Provide an Important Contribution to the Undergraduate Medical Curriculum The University of Bristol Surgical Society (Scrubs) hosts a range of events. Our aims are to offer medical students insight and opportunities to explore surgery at a junior stage. Given the trend toward early specialization,1 it is important that medical students are adequately exposed to each specialty to allow them to make an informed decision. Professional interactions with consultants have been shown to be the most important factor in determining career choice.2 Student-led societies are therefore crucial platforms, allowing medical students the opportunity to explore a surgical career, especially at a time when surgery is receiving less and less dedicated curriculum time.3 The success of our events is determined by a number of factors, including cost and educational value. The sebaceous cyst model illustrated by Bowling and Botting4 was of interest to Scrubs as it was both inexpensive and involves a range of basic surgical skills, including handling of instruments, incision, tissue handling, dissection, and suturing. It was for these reasons that this particular model was used during the fifth Annual Bristol-Cardiff Surgical Exchange, which took place in Spring 2013. Acknowledging the importance of professional interactions, the day included lectures by consultant surgeons from all 10 surgical specialties. This was followed by a practical workshop involving an adapted version of Bowling and Botting’s4 porcine sebaceous cyst model. We were able to provide 110 delegates with exposure to basic surgical skills under the supervision of consultants and trainees. The delegates were impressed with the models ease of assembly and the Surgeons assisting also commented on how the model was an accurate real life representation, indicating face validity. We recognize the importance of using teaching models that have undergone the process of validation. Validation refers to the extent to which an instrument measures what it was designed to measure.5 There are numerous forms of validation, including construct validity: the ability of a teaching model to distinguish between different levels of
experience.6 We are currently collecting preliminary data to discover whether our adapted sebaceous cyst model is construct valid. We urge other student-led societies to consider the validity of their models when designing workshops for future events.
Alexander Curtis, BSc* John Mason, BSc, MBBCh† * Department of Physiology and Pharmacology University of Bristol, Bristol, UK E-mail address: [email protected] † North Bristol NHS Trust, Bristol, UK
REFERENCES 1. Taylor I, Reed MF, Kingsnorth AN. Surgery in the
undergraduate curriculum. Ann R Coll Surg Engl. 2005;87(suppl):138-139. 2. Ek EW, Ek ET, Mackay SD. Undergraduate experience
of surgical teaching and its influence on career choice. ANZ J Surg. 2005;75(5):713-718. 3. Turney BW. Anatomy in a modern medical curriculum.
Ann R Coll Surg Engl. 2007;89(2):104-107. 4. Bowling J, Botting J. Porcine sebaceous cyst model: an
inexpensive, reproducible skin surgery simulator. Dermatol Surg. 2005;31(8 Part 1):953-956. 5. Feldman L, Sherman V, Fried G. Using simulators to
assess laparoscopic competence: ready for widespread use? Surgery. 2004;135(1):28-42. 6. Moorthy K, Munz Y, Sarker S, Darzi A. Objective
assessment of technical skills in surgery. Br Med J. 2003;327(7422):1032-1037.
Journal of Surgical Education & 2014 Association of Program Directors in Surgery. Published by 1931-7204/$30.00 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved. http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.jsurg.2013.09.013
163
Surgical Societies Provide an Important Contribution to the Undergraduate Medical Curriculum The University of Bristol Surgical Society (Scrubs) hosts a range of events. Our aims are to offer medical students insight and opportunities to explore surgery at a junior stage. Given the trend toward early specialization,1 it is important that medical students are adequately exposed to each specialty to allow them to make an informed decision. Professional interactions with consultants have been shown to be the most important factor in determining career choice.2 Student-led societies are therefore crucial platforms, allowing medical students the opportunity to explore a surgical career, especially at a time when surgery is receiving less and less dedicated curriculum time.3 The success of our events is determined by a number of factors, including cost and educational value. The sebaceous cyst model illustrated by Bowling and Botting4 was of interest to Scrubs as it was both inexpensive and involves a range of basic surgical skills, including handling of instruments, incision, tissue handling, dissection, and suturing. It was for these reasons that this particular model was used during the fifth Annual Bristol-Cardiff Surgical Exchange, which took place in Spring 2013. Acknowledging the importance of professional interactions, the day included lectures by consultant surgeons from all 10 surgical specialties. This was followed by a practical workshop involving an adapted version of Bowling and Botting’s4 porcine sebaceous cyst model. We were able to provide 110 delegates with exposure to basic surgical skills under the supervision of consultants and trainees. The delegates were impressed with the models ease of assembly and the Surgeons assisting also commented on how the model was an accurate real life representation, indicating face validity. We recognize the importance of using teaching models that have undergone the process of validation. Validation refers to the extent to which an instrument measures what it was designed to measure.5 There are numerous forms of validation, including construct validity: the ability of a teaching model to distinguish between different levels of
experience.6 We are currently collecting preliminary data to discover whether our adapted sebaceous cyst model is construct valid. We urge other student-led societies to consider the validity of their models when designing workshops for future events.
Alexander Curtis, BSc* John Mason, BSc, MBBCh† * Department of Physiology and Pharmacology University of Bristol, Bristol, UK E-mail address: [email protected] † North Bristol NHS Trust, Bristol, UK
REFERENCES 1. Taylor I, Reed MF, Kingsnorth AN. Surgery in the
undergraduate curriculum. Ann R Coll Surg Engl. 2005;87(suppl):138-139. 2. Ek EW, Ek ET, Mackay SD. Undergraduate experience
of surgical teaching and its influence on career choice. ANZ J Surg. 2005;75(5):713-718. 3. Turney BW. Anatomy in a modern medical curriculum.
Ann R Coll Surg Engl. 2007;89(2):104-107. 4. Bowling J, Botting J. Porcine sebaceous cyst model: an
inexpensive, reproducible skin surgery simulator. Dermatol Surg. 2005;31(8 Part 1):953-956. 5. Feldman L, Sherman V, Fried G. Using simulators to
assess laparoscopic competence: ready for widespread use? Surgery. 2004;135(1):28-42. 6. Moorthy K, Munz Y, Sarker S, Darzi A. Objective
assessment of technical skills in surgery. Br Med J. 2003;327(7422):1032-1037.
Journal of Surgical Education & 2014 Association of Program Directors in Surgery. Published by 1931-7204/$30.00 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved. http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.jsurg.2013.09.013
163
