Globalization of Undergraduate Surgical Education: A Unique Educational Experience at the Ircad France.

Vivian De Ruijter, Michele Diana, MD, Silvana Perretta, MD, Luc Soler, PhD, James Wall, MD, Susana Maia, MD, Thomas Parent, Didier Mutter, MD PhD FACS, Bernard Dallemagne, MD, Jacques Marescaux, MD Hon FRCS FACS JSES. IRCAD, University of Strasbourg, France

INTRODUCTION: Undergraduate medical students across the world have expressed the need for an early contact with Minimally Invasive Surgery (MIS). In this pilot study, we explored how interested medical students were in MIS educational programs by providing online charge-free interactive educational contents and a competency-focused strategy based on skill improvement in MIS.
MATERIAL & METHODS: A 2-hour web-based, charge-free course and a 5-day charge-free MIS boot camp took place at the Research Institute against Digestive Cancer (IRCAD, France). The courses were advertised through the mailing list of the educational website (WeBSurg©). During the web-based course, live lectures were given by internationally renowned experts and an online chat was established for questions. The program of the MIS boot camp included lectures, workshops, and hands-on training on pelvic trainers and pig models. The training was inspired on the FLS© and LASTT©. A 1-to-5 Likert scale satisfaction survey was sent to all participating students. A pre- and post-course assessment was also submitted to boot camp participants.
RESULTS: One hundred thirty-four participants (mean age: 24.6; SD: 4.9) from 47 countries attended the 2-hour web-based course. Eighty-seven attendees used the online chat at least once, producing 523 messages in total. The post-course survey had a response rate of 45% with a course satisfaction rate of 4.37 (SD: 0.58) among the attendees. All expressed their interest to attend a similar educational event for a second time. Sixty-eight students (mean age: 24.6; SD: 1.41) from 28 countries applied to participate at the MIS boot camp. Fifteen participants from 10 different countries were selected. A satisfaction rate of 4.75 (SD 0.5) was awarded to the boot camp by the participants.
CONCLUSION: The interactive web-based course and MIS boot camp pilot study was well received among medical students. This format could be used to educate and inspire students worldwide, allowing for a high quality global distribution of surgical education. This format meets the demands and profiles of today’s students as well as the interest of the younger student generation. These results have led to incorporate a structural educational concept at our institute combining charge-free, web-based interactive teaching and clinical skills laboratory programs in MIS for international undergraduate medical students.
 

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