Twelve tips for medical students to improve personal outcome in the surgical department

Surgical clerkship is essential for medical students to gain practical knowledge and insight into a toughly organized clinical environment. Usually, it is applied to the students themselves to find their place in the team and to take on tasks, whereby the clerkship can give satisfaction and success. For many students, however, this is difficult to implement, and in case of failure, the learning outcome deteriorates and consequently negatively affects the desire to pursue a career in surgery. This article is written for medical students with a view to offer twelve tips to gain valuation from their surgical clerkship based on personal experience, exchange of views with colleagues, and a review of literature.