Variation in Experiences and Attainment in Surgery Between Ethnicities of UK Medical Students and Doctors (ATTAIN): Protocol for a Cross-Sectional Study (Preprint)

Abstract

BACKGROUND A diverse healthcare system is required to meet the needs of an increasingly cosmopolitan patient population. One barrier to this is the differential attainment in educational outcomes between Black and Minority Ethnicity (BME) and white medical students and doctors in the U.K. Several factors have been identified, however there has been limited evidence to date looking specifically at surgical training experiences and its relationship to differential attainment. OBJECTIVE The “vAriation in experiences and aTTainment In surgery between ethNicities of UK medical students and doctors” (ATTAIN) study aims to describe and compare the factors and outcomes of attainment between different ethnicities of doctors and medical students. METHODS This protocol describes a nationwide cross-sectional study of medical students and non-consultant grade doctors. Participants will complete an online questionnaire that will collect data on experiences and perceptions of surgical placements as well and self-reported academic attainment data. A comprehensive data collection strategy will be employed to collect a representative sample of the population. RESULTS The primary aim will be to determine any potential differences in the experiences and perceptions of medical students and junior doctors in surgery and its link to surgical attainment. A set of surrogate markers relevant to surgical training will be used to establish a primary outcome to determine variation in attainment. Regression analyses will be used to identify potential causes for the variation in attainment. CONCLUSIONS Drawing upon the conclusions of this study we aim to make recommendations on educational policy reforms. Additionally, the creation of a large, comprehensive dataset can be used for further research. CLINICALTRIAL The protocol was approved by the University College London Research Ethics Committee on 16/09/2021 (Ethics approval reference 19071/004).