Attending, house officer, and medical student perceptions about teaching in the third-year medical school general surgery clerkship

Background There has been declining interest in surgery among medical students and one reason might be the third-year clerkship experience. The aim of this study was to clarify the perceptions and expectations of attendings, residents, and medical students on the clerkship experience. Study design A survey was distributed to all general surgery attendings, the entire general surgery house staff, and an entire third year medical school class inclusive of the 2001–2002 academic year at a single institution. Statistic analysis consisted of chi-square and Kruskal-Wallis-ANOVA on ranks with Dunn’s test for multiple comparisons. A p 95%). Faculty believed residents did a better job teaching than either the students or residents themselves did (p < 0.001), and students thought that residents were the primary source of education in patient care. Conclusions Considerable differences exist between faculty, surgical resident, and medical student perceptions and expectations of medical student education. Structured direct faculty contact, definition of medical student roles on the surgical team, and more consistent feedback can be rapidly improved.