Poster1-06: THE SURGERY CLERKSHIP:A LONGITUDINAL SURVEY OF NORTH AMERICAN CLERKSHIP DIRECTORS
Robert R Nesbit, MD1, Christian Ericson1, Andy Williams1, Jennifer Waller, PhD1, Sarah Egan, MS1, Tasha Wyatt, PhD1, A.J. Kleinheksel, PhD1, Rishindra Reddy, MD2, Toby Tally, MD1, Andreana Butter, MD3, Kwame Amankwa, MD4, Mark Hochberg, MD5; 1Medical College of Georgia at Augusta University, 2University of Michigan School of Medicine, 3Western University- London, Ontario, Canada, 4Upstate University, 5New York University
Methods: An online survey of North American Surgery Clerkship Directors (N=105) examining the structure and other details of the clerkships was performed in 2016. This presentation reviews that data and compares it to results of similar studies done in 2006 (N=100) and 2011 (N=88). To examine whether changes over time were seen for various survey items, repeated measures generalized linear mixed models were used. Statistical significance was assessed using an alpha level of 0.05.
Results: The average length of clerkships was significantly lower in 2016 at 8 weeks, compared to 8.6 weeks in 2011. The average number of lecture hours decreased significantly from 20.1 hours in 2005 to 13.7 hours in 2016. The average number of small group hours decreased significantly from 7.6 hours in 2005 to 2.1 hours in 2011 and 1.2 hours in 2016. The average number of simulation hours increased significantly from 2.7 hours in 2005 to 7.6 hours in 2011 and 5.4 hours in 2016.
Clerkship director compensation showed a significant increase, with 60.2% of directors receiving compensation in 2011 and 80% receiving compensation in 2016. The use of nurse educators in surgical clerkships increased significantly from 2005 (25%) to 2016 (45.6%). The average number of clerkship directors who received training remained steady at 23% of directors in 2011 and 28.6% of directors in 2016.
Conclusion: Surgery clerkships continue to differ widely, but significant trends in surgical clerkships have emerged over the past decade.