The surgical experience of current non-surgeons gained at medical school: a survey analysis with implications for teaching today’s students

BACKGROUND: It is unknown what aspects of undergraduate surgical curricula are useful for future non-surgeons. We aimed to define relevant, enduring learning achievements for this subgroup to enable student-centered teaching. METHODS: An online questionnaire using open ended questions was distributed to physicians of non-surgical specialties at the University Hospital of Tuebingen, Germany and its associated teaching hospitals. Participants were asked to describe knowledge and skills that endured from their surgical clerkship and which of these are used in daily practice. Textual responses were initially coded using content analysis and the frequency of recurrent categories was calculated. RESULTS: Sixty-seven of 153 questionnaires were returned; participants belonged to six different non-surgical specialties and had received their training at 22 different medical schools. Sustaining learning achievements included basic skills (suturing and working under sterile conditions), learning about professionalism and appreciating working conditions in surgery. Two learning techniques were valued: witnessing of rare cases or complications and working autonomously. CONCLUSION: Integration of our findings in undergraduate surgical teaching may focus teaching on students’ interests and improve surgical teaching.