Medical Students Pursuing Surgical Fields Have No Greater Innate Motor Dexterity than Those Pursuing Nonsurgical Fields
| Autor: | Phillip Mucksavage, Elspeth M. McDougall, Jason Y. Lee, David C. Kerbl |
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| Rok vydání: | 2012 |
| Předmět: |
Male
Students Medical Personality Inventory Decision Making education Functional Laterality Education Surveys and Questionnaires Humans Purdue Pegboard Test Statistical analysis Disease process Set (psychology) Video game Fine motor Career Choice Clinical Clerkship Patient population Cross-Sectional Studies Motor Skills General Surgery Medicine Female Surgery Psychology Social psychology Career choice Education Medical Undergraduate Clinical psychology |
| Zdroj: | Journal of Surgical Education. 69:360-363 |
| ISSN: | 1931-7204 |
| DOI: | 10.1016/j.jsurg.2011.11.005 |
| Popis: | Introduction Medical students pursue different career paths based on a variety of factors. We sought to examine the impact of innate manual dexterity, both perceived and objective, on the career interests of medical students. Methods Third-year medical students from the University of California, Irvine were recruited for this study. Subjects completed a pretest questionnaire followed by assessment of gross and fine motor dexterity using the Purdue Pegboard test. A total of 6 independent trials were performed, 3 for each hand. The scores were recorded as an integer value between 0 and 25. A statistical analysis was performed using student t tests, the Fischer exact test, or the χ2 test, where appropriate. Results A total of 100 students completed the questionnaire while 58 completed the dexterity testing. Students interested in a surgical field (SF) were similar in handedness, gender, video game exposure, and learning style as those interested in a nonsurgical field (NSF). In the SF group, “personal skill set” was reported as the most common factor influencing career selection, and “interest in disease process/patient population” was reported most commonly by NSF students (p = 0.015). Although a perceived innate manual dexterity was higher among SF students compared with NSF students (p = 0.032), no significant objective differences were found in right hand, left hand, or combined dexterity scores. Conclusions Perceived “personal skill set” may influence strongly a medical student's career choice. Despite greater perceived manual dexterity, students interested in an SF do not have greater objective innate manual dexterity than those interested in an NSF. |
| Databáze: | OpenAIRE |
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