3.2.1 Simulations
A few studies have been done on investigating different interventions in
medical education to foster an early interest in CT surgery. In Macfie
R. et al. (23), 31 US medical students, 26 general surgery residents,
and 15 CT fellows participated in 7 tissue-based simulations supervised
by 6 CT faculty in a single institution from 2015-2017. The pre and
post-surveys revealed that CT simulation participation significantly
increased operative confidence and interest across all training levels.
Of the 44 that were not confident pre-simulation, 75% increased their
confidence levels by 1 or more with 39% of them experiencing an
increase in 2 or more levels. The magnitude of increase in interest
levels was significantly larger earlier in training (43.06 for medical
students, 29.17 for PGY1-4, and 27.78 PGY5 to fellow level at p= 0.001).
A recent evaluation by Coyan G. et al. (19) on simulation-based
electives, showed an increase in those who scrubbed in or observed CT
cases from 9% pre-course to 33.3% post-course (p=0.11). In addition to
that, the ease of acquiring a mentor significantly increased from 23.8%
pre-course to 66.7% post-course (P=0.01). 81% reported that the
mini-elective significantly increased their CT knowledge when compared
to the standard curriculum. A similar 2010 study involving 44 medical
students at a US institution also showed that post-course, 61%
(p=0.001) agreed that their interest increased significantly. In terms
of subspecialty selection, 18% chose thoracic surgery pre-course versus
the 39% post-course. This also proved to be a good experience amongst
female participants as only 3 (12%) selected a thoracic rotation
pre-course but 9(35%) selected it post-course (24).