TOTB-05: GENERAL SURGERY RESIDENT TEACHING ASSISTANT POSITION FOR SURGERY CORE MEDICAL STUDENTS
W. Christian Crannell, MD, Mackenzie Cook, MD/Director, Surgical Core Clinical Experience; Oregon Health and Science University
What problem in education is addressed by this work?:
At our institution, medical students have reported mistreatment on their surgery core rotation, but have not brought concerns forward in real-time, limiting a true understanding of the problem or timely intervention. This phenomenon seems to stem from the misperception that by bringing concerns to residents on their rotation or to the surgery core director, students will face grade reprisal. Further, as the core has been truncated to a 4-week block, there is less time for a formal curriculum ensuring that each student receives a broad-based understanding of general surgery, including the non-technical components such as procedural consent and ethics.
Describe the intervention:
General surgery residents interested in medical student education were voluntarily asked to participate in a resident-led teaching assistant (TA) position, with guidance and oversight provided by the surgery core director. Each resident is assigned 3-5 students per core rotation, with the expectation being at a minimum, weekly email check-ins with each student, exploring concerns or questions the students may have; further contact and mentorship is expected depending on the studentsâ needs, and any mistreatment concerns or major problems are immediately relayed to the core director. The TA position can also serve as a vehicle to integrate additional curricular elements. The program allows for dual mentorship and professional development, both at the resident level and the medical student level.
Describe how this intervention could be applied at other institutions. Please specifically comment on identified barriers that could exist and how they could be overcome:
The intervention is dependent on resident participation and involvement, which can be challenging due to the clinical demands of general surgery residents. Ideally, using a research resident to head the program can mitigate the time constraints. Lastly, the program is facilitated by setting studentsâ expectations at the beginning of the core rotation by describing the role of the TA and that students will be receiving regular emails from a TA.