The differing perceptions of plastic surgery between potential applicants and current trainees: The importance of clinical exposure and electives for medical students.

Background: Exposure to plastic surgery during medical school is limited. Most interested applicants form their perceptions of careers in this surgical specialty during elective rotations.

Objective: To investigate the perceptions of Canadian medical students considering a career in plastic surgery. The results obtained were then compared with current Canadian plastic surgery residents' perceptions.

Methods: The data were collected via two separate self-administered online surveys that were distributed to either Canadian plastic surgery residents or medical students. The questionnaires were similar and focused on three aspects: applicant details; driving force behind interest in the field; and essential character traits and competencies related to successful matching.

Results: Fifty-nine plastic surgery residents and 477 medical students participated in the online survey. The most commonly reported driving forces for interest in a plastic surgery career in both groups were variety of career choice, complexity of the field, future lifestyle and enjoyable rotations in plastic surgery. Despite these similarities, the proportion of medical students and residents who opted for future lifestyle and enjoyable rotations differed in a statistically significant manner (P=0.015 and P=0.029, respectively). In terms of the essential competencies to match into a plastic surgery training spot, the groups differed statistically in their opinions on the relevance of intellect (P<0.001), manual dexterity (P<0.001), spatial sense (P<0.001) and clerkship grades (P=0.004).

Conclusion: Interested applicants should be encouraged to obtain as much elective experience as possible to assist both students in their career choice and selection committees in identifying capable applicants.