Impact of general surgery rotation exposure on surgery clerkship performance

Background: Medical students often have variable exposures to general surgery (GS) and subspecialty surgery (SS) during their surgical clerkship. We will evaluate the relationship between clinical exposure to GS and performance on the NBME Subject Examination in Surgery. Methods: Student data was collected retrospectively from 2015 to 2018 at a single academic institution. Students were categorized based on their clinical clerkship exposure to GS. A linear model was used to estimate the mean difference in NBME performance between GS and strictly SS exposed students while controlling for prior standardized examination scores and completion of an internal medicine clerkship prior to surgery. Results: 365 (67%) of 547 students were exposed to a GS rotation prior to their NBME exam. Performance on the NBME exam was comparable between GS versus SS students (mu diff = 0.37, 95% CI: -0.73 to 1.48; p = .51). Conclusions: Exposure to a GS rotation is not advantageous on the NBME surgery examination. Students who completed the medicine clerkship prior to surgery demonstrated superior performance on the NBME surgery examination. (C) 2020 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.