New horizons in surgical teaching: Undergraduate medical teaching in day surgery

Recent trends in surgical practice have seen explosive growth in Day Surgery where it is anticipated that by the Year 2000, up to 60% of all elective surgery in Australia will be performed on a day basis. This has major implications for undergraduate education as medical schools, their clinical teachers and students adapt to a changing surgical environment. At present, Day Surgery remains underutilized as a resource for medical student teaching and learning. This paper describes the first stage of a pilot project to develop a model for under graduate teaching in Day Surgery at the University of Adelaide, South Australia. The Day Surgery programme is fully integrated with the final year surgical curriculum. Students are actively involved in patient management as part of the clinical team in the Day Surgery Unit and develop a more patient centred approach as they follow patients from initial assessment, through surgery to their postoperative care and follow-up. The programme also incorporates problem-based learning tutorials and formal practical skills training sessions. The structured programme has been shown to be acceptable to all stakeholders. Students benefit by being exposed to common surgical conditions as well as specifically increasing their understanding of Day Surgery by 'hands on' experience.