Surgical Simulation Training in Medical Education

The current medical education model involves two years of primarily didactic coursework as well as two years of clinical integration and rotations before applying to residency programs. Medicine is an extremely hands-on career. Surgeons will need to master technical skills in their residency years of training as they have little exposure to hands-on surgical training in the current medical education model. For medical students that are interested in the surgical specialties, this calls into question whether or not there are modalities available to begin this training earlier on in their medical training. The ACOS (American College of Osteopathic Surgeons) Spring Conference held April 29- April 30, 2023, offered a state of the art surgical simulation experience that gave medical students interested in surgery the ability to explore these passions. In order to assess the benefits of such surgical simulations, the opinions of the medical students were assessed via survey. Respondents provided insight as to whether or not surgical simulations may be a useful addition to the didactic years of medical education, as well as continued training afterward. Resulting data suggests that medical students may benefit greatly from simulation experiences alongside attending physicians, whereupon they can ask questions as well as perform new skills under the guidance of an expert. Practicing in front of fellow students and attending physicians before encountering these same situations on rotations and in hospital may prove to be greatly beneficial to students seeking surgical careers. Medical students that engaged in the simulation training and answered the survey expressed opinions that highlighted benefits both in technical aspects as well as communication (non- technical) aspects of surgery. This study highlights simulation training as a potential solution to bridge the gap between the didactic and clinical years of medicine for aspiring surgeons.