Student Audit and Research in Surgery

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STARSurgUK: A novel tool for improvingmedical student perceptions of surgical

academia through participation in acollaborative, multi-centre, national cohort

study

Research Collaboratives

• Background• Benefits

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Paper background

• Tomorrows Doctors• Barriers• STARSurg • This parallel study aimed to evaluate the

educational impact of participation

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STARSurg 2013

• “Investigating the safety profile of post-operative NSAIDS following bowel resection”

• 273 student collaborators

• 32/33 medical schools represented

• Data delivered from 109 hospitals

Cohort

• Gender• Age• Medical school year• Previous degree• Previous collaborative research• Current career aspirations• Previous academic output

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Method (I)

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• Participation was supplemented with

- Training day- E-learning module- Discussion forums- YouTube videos

Method (II) - Questionnaire

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• The primary outcome measure was relative change in self perceived confidence in key academic domains following involvement in STARsurg

• 97 paired pre-post responses (36%) were received

Results (I) – Sample size and confidence

• Post hoc two-tail test• 97 paired responses• 6.6% margin of error at a 90% confidence

interval

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Results (II) – Participation in training

• YouTube• Twitter• Meeting

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Results (III) - Confidence in Core Academic Competences

• increased confidence in: – Appropriate data collection in a clinical setting

(p<0.001) – Presentation of scientific results (p<0.013) – Communication with local research governance

bodies (p<0.001) – Approaching clinical staff for local collaboration

(p<0.001)

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Results (IV) - Attitudes to research and audit

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• Collaborators described an increased appreciation of research, audit and study design (p=0.001)

• Collaborative networks

• Collaborators’ perceptions of academic careers remained unchanged (p=0.116)

Conclusions• This collaborative study empowered students to

engage in surgical academia• Collaborators reported increased appreciation and

confidence in relation to essential generic academic principles and skills

• Encouraging active participation in collaborative, student-led studies offers a novel approach for delivering essential academic training

• The educational benefit warrants further attention

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Questions?