Medical Teacher

ISSN: 0142-159X (Print) 1466-187X (Online) Journal homepage: http://www.tandfonline.com/loi/imte20

The effect of syncope on the career choices of medical students Katherine Stagg To cite this article: Katherine Stagg (2015) The effect of syncope on the career choices of medical students, Medical Teacher, 37:8, 790-790, DOI: 10.3109/0142159X.2015.1042438 To link to this article: http://dx.doi.org/10.3109/0142159X.2015.1042438

Published online: 11 May 2015.

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Date: 05 November 2015, At: 18:33

Letter to the Editor

intervention in a particular specific teaching area is effective, we believe that without the addition of these ‘‘educational’’ elements, such reviews risk being of limited value to other educators, researchers and will have less impact on practice. Morris Gordon, School of Medicine and Dentistry, University of Central Lancashire, Preston, UK. Department of Paediatrics, Blackpool Victoria Hospital, Blackpool, UK. E-mail: [email protected] Antonio Vaz Carneiro, Center for Evidence Based Medicine, University of Lisbon, Portugal

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Madalena Folque Patricio, Faculty of Medicine, University of Lisbon, Institute of Introduction to Medicine, Lisboa, Portugal Declaration of interest: Morris Gordon has received various travel grants and honoraria to support the dissemination of various works from companies including Danone, Abbott, Vifor, Ferring, Nutricia, Warner Chilcott, Cassen Fleet and Norgine. At no point have these companies had any involvement in this work. Others have nothing to declare.

References Ahmadi SF, Baradaran HR, Ahmadi E. 2015. Effectiveness of teaching evidence-based medicine to undergraduate medical students: A BEME systematic review. Med Teach 37(1):21–30. Cook DA, Bordage G, Schmidt H. 2008. Description, justification, and clarification: A framework for classifying the purposes of research in medical education. Med Educ 42:128–133. Gordon M, Carneiro AV, Patricio M, Gibbs T. 2014. Missed opportunities in health care evidence synthesis. Med Educ 48: 644–645. Hoffmann TC, Erueti C, Glasziou PP. 2013. Poor description of nonpharmacological interventions: Analysis of consecutive sample of randomised trials. BMJ 347:f3755.

The effect of syncope on the career choices of medical students

and perhaps also due to the wish to avoid subsequent embarrassment. This is supported by evidence suggesting that surgeons experience lower rates of syncopal episodes than the general population, suggesting a degree of self-selection. Given the increased rate of syncope in young women compared with men perhaps this is also an issue with regards to the under-representation of women in surgical careers. It has been recommended by the studies looking at the rates of syncope in medical students that teaching on how to avoid such incidences should be given. Given the significant effect syncope appears to be having on determining which students pursue a surgical career, and the relatively simple steps that can be taken to avoid syncope in most people (through eating appropriately and moving when possible) it seems appropriate that such teaching should become standard in surgical rotations. Katherine Stagg, University of Oxford Clinical Medical School, Oxford, UK. E-mail: [email protected]

Declaration of interest: The author reports no conflicts of interest. The author alone is responsible for the content and writing of the article.

References Rudnicki J, Zys´ko D, Kozłowski D, Kuliczkowski W, Koz´luk E, Lelonek M, Pitkowska A, Gajek J, Negrusz-Kawecka M, Agrawal AK. 2013. The choice of surgical specialization by medical students and their syncopal history. PLoS One 8(1):e55236. Weinberg D, Saleh M, Sinha Y. 2015. Twelve tips for medical students to maximise learning in theatre. Med Teach 37(1):34–40.

Twelve tips for medical students to maximise learning in theatre

Dear Sir Dear Sir I read the article by Weinberg et al. (2015) with interest on tips for medical students to maximise their learning during surgery and particularly noted point seven, regarding the avoiding syncope. While they described the important effect this issue has on student learning it is also important to note its impact on the career choices of medical students. Syncope is an unpleasant event that occurs not infrequently during theatre, often due to the long periods of standing still that are required during procedures. Rudnicki et al. (2013) found that medical students who experience syncopal events are less likely to opt for a surgical speciality. The reasons for this are likely to be multifactorial, including the wish to avoid the unpleasant symptoms of syncope, the appreciation that fainting while performing a procedure is potentially dangerous 790

We read an article by Weinberg et al. (2015) titled ‘‘Twelve tips for medical students to maximise learning in theatre’’ with interest. Maximising the learning in surgery has become more important within a curriculum where time in theatre is limited, syllabuses have changed and surgery remains as competitive as ever. As aspiring surgeons this can be frustrating. We think Weinberg et al. (2015) provide useful tips which students can implement to ensure theatre time is beneficial. Whilst maximising learning in theatre we must always ensure professionalism and patient safety. We have reflected on a personal experience in theatre which contextualises the tips given by Weinberg et al. (2015). We have cross-referenced their points with our reflection. We had been asked to scrub in with a surgeon whom S.D. was keen to impress. Having been in these theatres previously

The effect of syncope on the career choices of medical students.

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