CLINICAL SKILLS ACQUIRED DURING 3RD-YEAR SURGICAL CLERKSHIPS

An instrument was developed to survey third-year medical students abou t their experience with 18 clinical skills that are generally recogniz ed as required learning for the third-year surgical clerkship. The sam e instrument was adapted to ascertain which surgical skills 25 fourth- year medical students, 25 surgical residents, and 25 practicing surgeo ns thought should be acquired during the third-year surgical clerkship . None of these evaluators had completed medical school or residency a t our institution. A remarkable degree of conformity was found in the rankings of the 18 clinical skills by senior students, surgical reside nts, and practicing surgeons; fourth-year students rated only central venous line placement and simple operative procedures as significantly more important than did more senior evaluators. The third-year medica l students' actual surgical clerkship experience with 10 out of the 18 skills was significantly below the overall competency levels desired by the graduate groups. Our survey demonstrates that both students and graduates attach similar importance to the acquisition of clinical sk ills in the third-year surgical curriculum. The instrument utilized in this study to measure students' experience and satisfaction with this phase of their education was reliable, the measurements were consiste nt, and this information was useful in the evaluation and modification of the curriculum.