Poster4-01: USING SELF-REPORTED MEASURES OF CONFIDENCE AND ANXIETY TO DETERMINE THE EFFICACY OF THE SURGICAL EXPLORATION AND DISCOVERY (SEAD) PROGRAM IN REDUCING ANXIETY AND INCREASING CONFIDENCE IN PERFORMING PROCEDURAL SKILLS
Frank Battaglia, MD, Candidate1, Emilie Langlois1, Marisa Market1, John Shin1, Christine Seabrook2, Tim Brandys1; 1University of Ottawa, 2The Ottawa Hospital
Background & Objectives: Clerkship students feel increased anxiety and lack of confidence when it comes to surgery. This study assessed whether participation in Surgical Exploration and Discovery (SEAD), a two-week intensive surgical program that includes career information, simulation workshops and operating room observerships, would help decrease anxiety, increase confidence, and foster interest in a surgical career.
Methods: 30 first year medical students were randomly selected for the SEAD program and 32 were only given the program’s instruction manual during the duration of the program serving as the control. At baseline and after the completion of SEAD, both groups were given a survey containing the State Trait Anxiety Inventory that measures self-reported anxiety levels with an adjunct that gauges confidence and interest in a surgical career.
Results: Students who participated in the program showed significant improvements in self-perceived knowledge and confidence for each surgical skill: scrubbing (p-value<0.001, p-value<0.001), maintaining sterility (p-value<0.001, p-value<0.001), and surgical assisting (p-value<0.001, p-value<0.001). However, there was no difference in the average state anxiety with procedural skills (p-value=0.190) between students who participated in SEAD and those who did not. Students who completed SEAD had a notable increase in their interest in pursuing a career in surgery compared to their pre-test (p-value=0.020) and compared to the control group (p-value=0.600).
Conclusions: The SEAD program may increase medical students’ confidence and interest in pursuing a surgical career. These results encourage offering medical students with similar opportunities that provide exposure to surgery in pre-clerkship.