Medical Student Education

A top priority of the Department of Surgery is medical student education. The goals of our program are to 1) insure that all students obtain a fundamental knowledge base in the surgical sciences, 2) to provide exposure to surgical specialties, and 3) to provide mentoring for students interested in a career in surgery.

The Department of Surgery's faculty members participate in medical student education throughout all four years of medical school, including teaching, administration, counseling and educational development. Faculty are involved in teaching five different courses in the first year or Component I: "Introduction to the Patient," "Clinical Skills," "Introduction to Clinical Sciences 601" and "Neural and Behavioral Sciences." The specific units of Component II in which Surgery has a direct teaching commitment is the gastrointestinal, musculoskeletal, neurosciences, renal, and reproduction units.

Our faculty has the most extensive contact with students throughout Components III and IV. The junior (159) medical students spent a total of 477 required surgical clerkship months. The graduating seniors (161) spent approximately 233 elective clerkship months in the Department of Surgery in 1999-2000. Undergraduate, graduate and medical student enrollment in surgery research courses continues to increase.

A new requirement "Breaking Bad News" which is a simulated patient instructor interview was instituted during this academic year. The student participates in an educational exercise that is designed to refine communication skills. The student is required to provide unsettling information to an apprehensive individual (simulated patient, patient's family or other concerned individuals).

The Department has sponsored, funded and administered the very popular, oversubscribed senior year Surgical Anatomy elective course for over a decade. This course is coordinated by a senior surgical resident who also serves as a co-instructor with a professor of Anatomy.

The Surgery Student Forum, initiated in 1978, is a group of junior and senior medical students interested in a career in surgery who holds monthly surgical seminars in faculty members' homes. In addition to academic presentations, the Forum provides an opportunity for informal career planning discussions. One independent measure of the success of the Department's medical student education program is the number of University of Michigan graduates entering postgraduate training in surgery; our percentage has consistently been above the national average for nearly two decades. During this past academic year the Department has supported a new forum addressing the interests of students in their M1/M2 years.

Robert H. Bartlett, M.D. continues to serve as the faculty advisor for the Victor Vaughan Society, founded in memory of the Dean of the University of Michigan Medical School from 1891 to 1921. Monthly meetings, held at the homes of faculty members, feature informal presentations related to medical history.