Modernising undergraduate surgical education: Development and early evaluation of an integrated surgical simulation curriculum

Background Scottish medical school cohorts have rapidly grown over the last decade, while theatre capacity has not. Simultaneously, surgical technology has advanced, expanding learning needs. We reviewed and redesigned the fourth-year surgical curriculum to address this, implementing an undergraduate surgical-simulation programme incorporating basic, laparoscopic, robotic and endoscopic skills into one curriculum. Methods Kern's six-step approach structured the redesign, adding live-links to robotic theatre, endoscopic simulation and an end-of-block consolidation session. The programme was delivered to 44 fourth-year students who were invited to complete an end-of-block questionnaire. Data were analysed descriptively, and a Wilcoxon signed-rank test was performed on paired samples. Results Seventeen of 44 students responded; 88% (15 out of 17) felt well or very well prepared to assist in theatre after the consolidation session. In total, 53% (9 out of 17) rated the simulation the most valuable part of the block, above time in theatre. Respondents rated the simulation higher than the overall block (median 94% vs. 80%, p = 0.016). Conclusions We are not aware of another undergraduate surgical curriculum integrating laparoscopic, robotic and endoscopic simulation. Upon completion, responding students reported a high perceived educational value and finished the sessions feeling prepared to assist in theatre. The model may suit other institutions facing similar pressures.