Background: Interest in surgery has declined for two decades. This study aimed to evaluate the impact of one's interest in surgery on career choice.
Methods: Students who completed the surgical clerkship (2016-2017) were invited to complete surveys assessing rotation experience, learning style, burnout, and grit. Students were grouped according to interest or no interest in surgery after the clerkship.
Results: Surveys were completed by 62 students of whom 51.6% reported an interest in surgery. No minority students expressed interest compared with Caucasian (51.1%) and Asian (71.4%) students (p = 0.02). Disinterested students had higher emotional exhaustion (EE, 20 vs 25, p = 0.03). There was no difference in clerkship grade between groups (86.3% vs 85.3%, p = 0.56). Students who matched into surgery had lower EE and higher grit.
Conclusions: Interest in surgery was not associated with improved clerkship performance. Disinterested students had higher EE, suggesting interest may play a role in adapting to clerkship challenges.
Keywords: Burnout; Grit; Learning styles; Medical students; Surgical education.
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