STARSurg conference presentation on the educational impact of student engagement.

1. Student Audit and Research in Surgery
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STARSurgUK: A novel tool for improving
medical student perceptions of surgical
academia through participation in a
collaborative, multi-centre, national cohort
study

2. Research Collaboratives
• Background
• Benefits
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3. Paper background
• Tomorrows Doctors
• Barriers
• STARSurg
• This parallel study aimed to evaluate the
educational impact of participation
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4. www.STARSurg.org
STARSurg 2013
•“Investigating the safety profile of post-
operative NSAIDS following bowel
resection”
•273 student collaborators
•32/33 medical schools represented
•Data delivered from 109 hospitals

5. Cohort
• Gender
• Age
• Medical school year
• Previous degree
• Previous collaborative research
• Current career aspirations
• Previous academic output
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6. Method (I)
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•Participation was
supplemented with
- Training day
- E-learning module
- Discussion forums
- YouTube videos

7. Method (II) - Questionnaire
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•The primary outcome
measure was relative
change in self perceived
confidence in key
academic domains
following involvement in
STARsurg
•97 paired pre-post
responses (36%) were
received

8. Results (I) – Sample size and
confidence
• Post hoc two-tail test
• 97 paired responses
• 6.6% margin of error at a 90% confidence
interval
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9. Results (II) – Participation in
training
• YouTube
• Twitter
• Meeting
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10. Results (III) - Confidence in Core
Academic Competences
• increased confidence in:
– Appropriate data collection in a clinical setting
(p<0.001)
– Presentation of scientific results (p<0.013)
– Communication with local research governance
bodies (p<0.001)
– Approaching clinical staff for local collaboration
(p<0.001)
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11. Results (IV) - Attitudes to research
and audit
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•Collaborators described an increased appreciation of
research, audit and study design (p=0.001)
•Collaborative networks
•Collaborators’ perceptions of academic careers
remained unchanged (p=0.116)

12. Conclusions
• This collaborative study empowered students to
engage in surgical academia
• Collaborators reported increased appreciation and
confidence in relation to essential generic academic
principles and skills
• Encouraging active participation in collaborative,
student-led studies offers a novel approach for
delivering essential academic training
• The educational benefit warrants further attention
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13. www.STARSurg.org
Questions?