457 Survey of Perceived Barriers to Medical Students for Progression into Surgery

Applications for surgical training have been decreasing despite higher numbers of medical school graduates. We sought to explore the perceived barriers to medical students for progression into surgery. Method An online anonymised SurveyMonkey® questionnaire aimed at medical students was disseminated in May 2020, with survey invitations advertised through social media. Results A total of 271 responses were obtained, with 95% of respondents being undergraduates and a 7:3 female to male ratio. Approximately one-fifth (19%) were considering pursuing a career in surgery. 82% of students had observed in an operating theatre. 54% of respondents agreed that their surgical rotation was a positive experience, 21% neutral, 8% negative. Most frequent perceived barriers included lack of work-life balance (77%), surgical culture (67%), lengthy post-graduate training pathway (63%), and competitive entry of surgical specialties (63%). Others included a lack of understanding of surgical career pathways (52%), limited exposure to surgery (47%), and lack of interest (37%). Notably, gender bias was a barrier for many (35%). Most wanted more exposure to surgery through surgical skills teaching (85%), theatre experience (67%), surgical placements (59%) and didactic teaching (33%). Conclusions Modifiable barriers need to be addressed in undergraduate and postgraduate training to boost the number of applications into surgical training.