Surgery clerkship offers greater entrustment of medical students with supervised procedures than other clerkships

Background: Medical student procedural participation is increasingly limited, creating concerns over poor preparation for internship. Inadequate experiences may also compromise patient safety. This study explores variances in procedural entrustment of medical students between core clerkships during the first clinical year.

Methods: Students completing their first clinical year were surveyed on procedure participation. Holistic entrustment decisions are complex, thus participation was used as an objective proxy for entrustment.

Results: 138 students responded (66% response rate); 89% (123/138) wished they had performed more procedures. Students had higher participation rates during procedural clerkships (surgery, obstetrics/gynecology). Entrustment was highest during surgery, and lowest during pediatrics. Surgery gave statistically significantly higher entrustment for subcuticular suturing (compared to obstetrics/gynecology) and nasogastric tube removal (compared to internal medicine). Entrustment was generally inversely proportional to procedure complexity within each specialty.

Conclusions: Students encounter higher entrustment during procedural clerkships, especially surgery. Targeted areas for increased procedural involvement can be identified in all specialties.