Increased Geographical Diversity and Hands-on Skills Training For Medical Student Neurosurgery Training Camp

Medical students have little structured exposure to clinical neurological surgery prior to sub-internships. This prompted the development of the Medical Student Neurosurgery Training Camp. In the second year of this course, we aimed to improve the curriculum by increasing the hands-on experience and reduce travel burden with geographical expansion.

METHODS: Before the course, students received surveys that collected demographic information, information regarding exposure to the field, as well as a questionnaire assessing confidence levels for various skills that would be targeted by the course curriculum. After the training camp, all participants were re-surveyed. Pearson Chi-Square and Fisher’s exact tests were used for categorical variables and the two-tailed paired Student’s t-test for continuous variables. A p-value <0.05 was considered significant. Post hoc analysis was used to compare survey outcomes of the 2018 Training Camp to 2019 Training Camp outcomes.

Investigators
Susan C. Pannullo, MD; Jeffrey P. Greenfield, MD, PhD; Graham Winston; Ryan E. Radwanski; Iyan Younus

Project Start: September 1, 2018
Project End: August 31, 2019

Associated Institutions
Brain and Spine Group, Inc.
Weill Cornell Medicine Department of Neurological Surgery

Project Funding
Brain and Spine Group, Inc., Integra Foundation, Zimmer Biomet, American Association of Neurological Surgeons, Neurosurgery Research and Education Foundation, Weill Cornell Medical College Department of Neurological Surgery, and Weill Cornell Medical College Medical Student Executive Committee.
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Final Report
Under Review: Winston GM, ElJalby M, Younus I, Guadix SW, Xia J, Nario JJ, Rothbaum M, Radwanski RE, Greenfield JP, Pannullo, SC. Medical Student Neurosurgery Training Camp for Sub-Internship Preparation: Increased Geographical Diversity and Hands-on Skills Training in the Second Annual Course.