Assessment of a revised course in surgery.

Abstract

Under the system that existed at the Middlesex Hospital Medical School before June 1969, a clinical introductory course was followed by two medical firms, each of three months, and these in turn were followed by two surgical firms each of three months. It is not the purpose of this paper to comment on or discuss this particular arrangement of the clinical course, but merely to note that students formed themselves into groups and requested assignment to the teachers of their choice. This request procedure was repeated every three months for each new firm, the students requesting one of the eight medical firms, or one of the six surgical firms, depending on the stage reached in their clinical course. There were a number of disadvantages inherent in this system. Firstly, four of the medical, and four of the surgical firms were located at the Middlesex Hospital, and four of the medical and two of the surgical firms were located at the Central Middlesex Hospital. Students are expected, where possible, to gain experience at both hospitals. Secondly, there was unwritten agreement as to which teachers provided similar types of clinical material, and students naturally expected to be provided with the greatest possible variety. On occasions, however, administrative difficulty was encountered in maintaining this framework within the requests made by the students. Starting in June 1969, the system for surgical firms was revised to a cyclic one. Two streams,