Can a one-day practical lesson in surgical skills encourage medical students to consider a surgical career?

Interest in a surgical career is declining among medical students, and many more need to commit themselves to becoming surgeons to cope with this. We have therefore developed a one-day practical lesson in surgical skills to find out whether a short course such as this can make students more enthusiastic about surgery, and about subsequently pursuing a career in one of its subspecialties. Fifty-four randomly-selected medical students did a one-day practical course in the skills required for maxillofacial surgical specialties. The 4 subdivisions involved - traumatology, resection of a tumour (cancer surgery), plastic surgery (microsurgery), and cleft lip and palate surgery. All students took written tests and completed an evaluation form about their interest in a surgical career before and after training. There was a significant increase in test scores in almost all categories at the end of the course, and significantly more students were prepared to consider a surgical career or a career in maxillofacial surgery after the training. This study shows that a one-day training course in surgical skills can significantly improve medical students' surgical knowledge, and might encourage them to enter a surgical career. We recommend the integration of a short training course such as this into the medical school curriculum. Only time and further evaluation will tell whether this increased exposure to surgical techniques can be transformed into additional surgeons.