Pedagogical impact of internal training applied to the Academic League of Internal and Surgical Medicine

INTRODUCTION: Academic Leagues of Medicine are extracurricular activities, which recognize the student’s protagonism in knowledge's production, such as training and teaching-learning experiences developed by students.  OBJECTIVE: To assess the training’s efficiency in surgical technique applied at the Academic League of Internal and Surgical Medicine (LAMIC).  METHODS AND MATERIALS: We evaluated the effect of the LAMIC’s training promoted to its associated students, comparing them to a non-exposed group. A questionnaire was used as an evaluation tool. It contained 20 objective questions and all students had up to 30 minutes to answer it. The 60% mark of correct answers was set as a threshold for considering proficient knowledge. For statistical analyses, Mann-Whiney U test and Fisher's exact test were performed, adopting p<0.01 as significant.  RESULTS: Sixty-nine students composed the sample population, whom 24 LAMIC-students were exposed to internal training and 45 non-exposed students. Among LAMIC-students, 91.7% had supraliminal results, while only 2.2% of non-exposed students reached this mark (p<0.01; odds ratio, OR = 354.8). There was statistically significant association between LAMIC-students’ results and good performance in: fundamentals in surgery (p<0.01, OR = 5.0), surgical risk assessment (p<0.01, OR = 3.4), patient (p<0.01, OR = 183.5) and surgical team (p<0.01, OR = 9.6) positioning, surgical center (p<0.01, OR = 84.0), and instrumentation (p<0.01, OR = 125.3).  CONCLUSION: Participation in internal training promoted by the academic league fostered better results in surgical knowledge, corroborating the concept that student’s leadership in teaching experiences may contribute to a better learning experience and medical formation.