Student perceptions of skills acquisition during the surgical clerkship: Differences across academic quarters and deviations from faculty expectation

Background: Individual and experiential factors, as well as the timing of the surgical clerkship, may influence knowledge and/or skills acquisition. Purpose: To examine differences across academic quarters in student perceptions of skills acquisition; differences between student perceptions and faculty expectations; and the association between perceptions and grades, student evaluations of the program, and their own career interests. Methods: Each of 61 students evaluated postclerkship acquisition of 33 procedural and 12 clinical skills. Each of 14 faculty surgeons indicated expectations for skills acquisition. Results: Faculty expectations were significantly higher (p < .01) than first quarter (Q1) student perceptions for most skills. Ql student perceptions were significantly lower than those of third quarter (Q3) students for most skills. Perceptions of skills acquisition were associated with preclinical desire for a surgical career, number of procedures performed, number of workups completed, and clini...