Background. A comprehensive exposure to general surgery is essential for me
dical students pursuing careers in surgery. Occasionally, students applying
for surgical residency positions must choose a subspecialty field prior to
starting their residency training. Often, this decision is heavily based o
n their experience on various surgical clerkships.
Materials and methods. To determine if surgical clerkships influence subspe
cialty choice, we surveyed medical students who interviewed for general sur
gery training over a a year period at The Johns Hopkins Hospital.
Results. Of 211 surveys sent, 146 were returned (66%). The mean age of the
students was 26 +/- 0 years with 21% being female. Students anticipating su
bspecialization in cardiothoracic, plastic, pediatric, and transplant surge
ry saw significantly more operations in their respective fields. Similar tr
ends were seen in vascular surgery and surgical oncology. Despite the appar
ent differences in exposure to subspecialty operations, all students saw eq
ual numbers of hernia repairs and laparoscopic cholecystectomies.
Conclusions. While medical students pursuing careers in surgery have equal
exposure to general surgery, their anticipated subspecialty field highly co
rrelated with their operative exposure to that held. Thus, medical school s
urgical rotations appear to highly influence subspecialty choice. (C) 2001
Academic Press.