# Evaluation of the Effectiveness of Student Practice in a Surgical Skills Curriculum: A Prospective Study

## TL;DR

This study shows that practicing surgical skills over six weeks improved medical students' learning and readiness to apply those skills.

## Contribution

The study introduces a structured surgical skills review method and demonstrates its effectiveness in a medical education setting.

## Key findings

- Pre- and post-assessment scores showed significant increases (p < 0.05) across all weeks.
- Perceived readiness to apply topics in professional life improved significantly (p < 0.05).
- The largest score improvement occurred in the first week of the program.

## Abstract

Objectives: This study aims to evaluate the effectiveness of student practice in a surgical skills curriculum and their evolution during the process and, therefore, evaluate the relevance of training surgical skills in medical graduation.

Methods: The study design was prospective observational and analytical, the participants were fourth-year medical students from the Bahiana School of Medical Education and Public Health, and the sample size was 300. The sampling method used was a non-probability sampling method, and data collection was realized through a questionnaire in a QR code with a study overview and a pre-assessment and post-assessment survey link. Data analysis was performed using Microsoft Excel 2021 (Microsoft Corp., Redmond, WA, US). The Shapiro-Wilk test was first conducted to test for normality. Due to the normal distribution of the data, a parametric paired t-test with a 95% confidence interval was used to analyze statistical differences in diagnostic accuracy and knowledge acquisition scores between the pre- and post-assessment and provided the collection of data to assess the impact of a second review moment of surgical skills (SRMSS) for medical students.

Results: Perceived readiness to teach improved across all weeks. Pre- and post-assessment scores showed significant increases (p < 0.05), with mean differences ranging from 0.89 to 1.32, the largest change occurring in Week 1 (1.32). Perceived readiness to apply topics in professional life improved across all weeks, with mean differences ranging from 0.52 to 1.32 (p < 0.05).

Conclusion: The results show that the SRMSS implemented over the six-week period were effective in enhancing participants' perceived learning, readiness for assessments, readiness to teach, and readiness to apply learned topics in practical or professional contexts.