gms | German Medical Science

Introduction: Basic surgical skills – basic suturing and knotting are an important part of training for any future doctor, as they can come in handy in any specialty. Klinikfest is an extracurricular education organized by students of the Medical faculty at the University of Maribor.

The aim of the study was to assess how much knowledge 4^th, 5^th and 6^th year medical students have already acquired, the impact of workshops on their surgical skills and to determine how many workshops students believe they would need to feel confident suturing on a patient.

Methods: We included 48 medical students from the 4^th to 6^th year of the Faculty of Medicine at the University of Maribor and Ljubljana, who participated in Klinikfest. We focused on key techniques in basic surgery, including simple sutures, vertical mattress sutures, continuous sutures, subcutaneous sutures and fundamental knot-tying methods. Following the event, participants were asked to complete evaluation forms to assess their self-reported knowledge and confidence in performing basic surgical techniques. Identical evaluation forms were distributed to a control group, comprising 41 students from both faculties who did not attend Klinikfest. The responses from both groups were compared and evaluated.

Results: Before the Klinikfest, statistically significant differences in knowledge of the tested skills between the groups were found for intradermal suture (p=0.044) and knotting (p<0.001).

After the workshop, a statistically significant difference in knowledge was noted between the groups for all tested skills, except for intradermal suture (p=0.284). The improvement in knowledge was most evident in knotting, where 68.8% more students mastered the skill after the workshop. Similarly, there was a significant increase in knowledge of simple continuous suture, with 47.9% more students becoming proficient. Vertical mattress suture also showed a substantial improvement in proficiency, with 39.6% more students mastering the technique. Intradermal suture, while improving in proficiency by 27.1%, was the only skill where the difference was not statistically significant. The smallest improvement was observed in simple suture, where 2.1% more students acquired proficiency, likely because most students were already skilled in this technique before the workshop.

Most students reported that it would take at least 4 such workshops to feel confident to suture in the operating room. Students who attended Klinikfest would feel confident with 4 workshops in contrast to those who didn’t attend it (p=0.003) and more students who didn't attend Klinikfest were of the opinion that they would need more than 4 workshops to feel confident compared to those who attended it (p=0.033).

Conclusion: The Klinikfest workshop significantly improved students' knowledge and skills in all suture techniques, with knotting showing the most significant improvement. Consequently, such workshops should be organized more frequently to maintain and additionally improve students’ skills.