D92. The Impact of a Shadowing Program on Medical Students’ Interest in Plastic Surgery

PURPOSE: Given the lack of formal education during the preclinical years of medical school, many students commonly misunderstand the breadth and depth of plastic surgery. Shadowing is highly impactful in shaping students' desire to pursue surgery, but the impact of plastic surgery shadowing remains unexplored. METHODS: All medical students who participated in a plastic surgery shadowing program over a two-year period were invited to complete a survey regarding their experience and demographics. RESULTS: Of the 54 students who shadowed, 43 (79.6%) completed the survey. There was no significant difference in reported likelihood of pursuing a surgical specialty between gender (p=0.215) or race (p=0.4156). Students reported a greater impact of OR shadowing than clinic shadowing on their interest in plastic surgery, approaching significance (p=0.0527). On simple and multivariate regression, the number of times a student shadowed in the OR was the only statistically significant predictor of students' interest in plastic surgery (p=0.0003). Most students reported their experience "significantly increased" (24.2%) or "somewhat increased" (45.5%) their interest in pursuing a plastic surgery career. CONCLUSION: The value of structured shadowing programs is demonstrated. Additionally, our results indicate that efforts may benefit most from facilitating student exposure to the hands-on aspects of the field.