Fostering Student Interest in Neurologic Surgery: The University of Pittsburgh Experience

Kashkoush, Ahmed; Feroze, Rafey; Myal, Stephanie E.; Prabhu, Arpan V.; Sansosti, Alexandra A.; Tonetti, Daniel A; Agarwal, Nitin

doi:10.1016/j.wneu.2017.08.125

Cited by 33 publications

(11 citation statements)

References 12 publications

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“…By increasing interaction between specialists and students, these initiatives facilitate learning through constructive feedback and career counseling 14. This can encourage students to apply to particular specialties and provides them adequate time and guidance to begin preparing for the application process 15. A study showed that students who undertook surgery-related research and developed mentor relationships in years 1 and 2 were significantly more likely to maintain an interest in surgical specialities later in their training 16.…”

Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

<p>Medical student mentoring programs: current insights</p>

Nimmons¹,

Giny²,

Rosenthal³

2019

AMEP

137

109

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Medical school mentoring programs incorporate a wide range of objectives. Clinical mentoring programs help to develop students’ clinical skills and can increase interest in under-subscribed specialties. Those that focus on teaching professionalism are integrated into medical school curriculums in order to overcome the “hidden curriculum”. Positive mentoring plays a part in reversing the decline of academic medicine, by sparking interest through early research experiences. It also has an important role in encouraging recruitment of under-represented minority groups into the medical profession through widening access programs. The aim of our review of the literature, is to analyze current trends in medical student mentoring programs, taking into account their objectives, execution, and evaluation. We outline the challenges encountered, potential benefits, and key future implications for mentees, mentors, and institutions.

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Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

<p>Medical student mentoring programs: current insights</p>

Nimmons¹,

Giny²,

Rosenthal³

2019

AMEP

137

109

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

show abstract

“…Fifteen papers provided information on the efficacy of SIGs (Table 1), primarily through survey distribution (12 papers) or use of residency match data (3 papers). 1,[16][17][18][19][20]24,30,31,[34][35][36]38,40,42 Outcome measures of the surveys were heterogeneous, including quantitative measures such as Likert scales, as well as qualitative feedback from students.…”

Section: Efficacymentioning

confidence: 99%

Systematic review of the efficacy and purpose of student surgical interest groups

Murphy,

Chao,

Koea

et al. 2023

ANZ Journal of Surgery

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BackgroundThere is concern around projected unmet need in the surgical workforce internationally. Current barriers to medical students pursuing surgical careers include lack of early exposure, low confidence in surgical skills, and perceived lifestyle barriers.This review aimed to examine both the purpose of student surgical interest groups (SIGs) globally, and their effect on metrics representing student surgical career interest. barriers.MethodsMEDLINE, EMBASE, PubMed, and Google Scholar were searched for papers analysing surgical interest group purpose and efficacy. Risk of bias was assessed for survey‐based papers using a 20‐point checklist. Descriptive analysis was performed based on qualitative data.ResultsTwenty‐eight papers were included in the analysis including 13 surveys. These were of moderate quality. The analysed SIGs had 100–1000 student members and a diverse range of funding sources. Purpose of SIGs was described by 26 of 28 papers with common themes including promotion of surgical career choice and developing theoretical/practical surgical skills. Common initiatives of SIGs included surgical lectures/teaching and practical skills workshops. Data from 15 papers analysing efficacy of SIGs suggested they positively influenced self‐reported student interest in surgical careers (78.6%) and confidence in surgical knowledge (80%), as well as confidence in practical skills, knowledge about surgical careers/lifestyle, mentorship opportunity, and research involvement.ConclusionStudent SIGs make a unique contribution to early medical student experience through positive effect on promoting surgical careers. They target relevant metrics such as surgical knowledge and confidence that are known to influence surgical career choice in the modern surgical landscape.

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“…Besides, these findings are consistent and parallel with three of the included studies in this article. The three reports demonstrate that medical students participating in neurosurgery clerkship show greater interest and optimism in pursuing neurosurgical career residency [ 22 , 3 , 5 ]. In conjunction, however, one other study revealed that about 62% of surgical clerkship did not offer didactic lectures, with only 17% of medical institutions having a formal program for student mentorship.…”

Section: Reviewmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…This study's finding collaborates with five articles that explored strategic programs employed across the world's medical institutions to help increase the number of neurosurgical resident applicants. Some of these strategies include the neuroanatomy lab initiative (NLI) program [ 23 ]; the creation of NSIG [ 5 ]; the student interest groups (SIG) program [ 25 ], which was associated with an 85% record of student matching into neurosurgery, and the surgical exploration and discovery (SEAD) program [ 24 , 26 ], which exhibited an increased interest of students in neurosurgery from 10% to 30% after its implementation. A significant number of medical students (82%) revealed that the SEAD program improved their understanding of neurological surgery [ 24 ].…”

Section: Reviewmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…The decreased number of neurosurgery residency applicants can be articulated to a number of factors, which encompass the duration of the required training, the kind of lifestyle, lack of early exposure to neurosurgery, and lack of mentors for a vast of medical students across the globe [1][2][3]. Nevertheless, neuroscience is reportedly among the most common majors that undergraduate premedical students have over the years shown interest in furthering their careers in neurological illnesses and disease [4,5]. 1 2 Although with time, medical students tend to shift their interests to another medical specialty in the early stages of their medical schooling.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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The Need for Improved Recruitment to Neurosurgery Training: A Systematic Review of Enrollment Strategies

Ekhator¹,

Rak²

2022

Cureus

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Neurosurgery is one of the cornerstones corresponding to a large scope of clinical pathologies and is a highly-regarded surgical specialty. However, there has been a decline in recruits into the neurosurgical residency due to many factors derailing the interest of medical students with an ambition to become neurosurgeons. Some of these issues encompass little or lack of early exposure to neurosurgery, lack of quality mentorship programs, and institutional curriculum entailing prolonged periods of training and study in neurosurgery. Therefore, this systematic review and meta-analysis aim to establish some strategic methodologies for increasing the recruitment to neurological surgery. Neurosurgery is an interestingly exciting specialty that integrates cutting-edge technology allowing for diversified subspecialization with an exceptional degree of variety. Nevertheless, several factors such as the duration of the required training, the kind of lifestyle, lack of early exposure to neurosurgery, and lack of mentors to a vast of medical students across the globe have curtailed the recruitment to neurological surgery. Despite an increased number of female representations in medical surgery, there has been a reported increase in students matching into neurosurgery, although the number is relatively below the expectation due to the factors highlighted earlier. As a result, many studies and surveys have been conducted to identify ways of improving neurosurgical recruitment.Five electronic databases, including PubMed, Science Direct, Cumulative Index to Nursing and Allied Health Literature (CINAHL), Google Scholar, MEDLINE, and Cochrane Library, were searched to provide pertinent information to the topic of study in strict compliance with the PRISMA (Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Review and Meta-analysis) guidelines. Meta-analysis was then conducted on the included studies to determine their correlations based on the individual outcomes of each study. A total of 2,134 search results were obtained, screened, and reviewed against the exclusion and inclusion criteria to remain with 12 included studies detailing improving the recruitment to neurosurgical residency. The 12 studies were retrieved for their study characteristics based on the PICO (predetermined patient, intervention, control, and outcome) standards. Most of the studies were surveys (n = 8), retrospective and prospective studies (n = 2), and pilot and multifocal studies making up for the rest (n = 2). Several neurosurgery aspects need consideration to improve the recruitment of medical students to neurosurgical fields. Medical institutions, specialists, and other stakeholders should consider reconstructing the neurosurgical curriculum to ease the prolonged study time as well as to create and encourage structural programs aimed at acquainting medical students in neurosurgery and involving the students in conducting other research projects. In addition, mentorship programs and early exposure of medical students to neurological surgery play a key role in in...

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Fostering Student Interest in Neurologic Surgery: The University of Pittsburgh Experience

Cited by 33 publications

References 12 publications

<p>Medical student mentoring programs: current insights</p>

<p>Medical student mentoring programs: current insights</p>

Systematic review of the efficacy and purpose of student surgical interest groups

The Need for Improved Recruitment to Neurosurgery Training: A Systematic Review of Enrollment Strategies

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