• Ryan E Radwanski, Graham Winston, Iyan Younus, Sergio W Guadix, Nathan A Shlobin, Michael Rothbaum, Michael W Kortz, Justin M Campbell, Alexander Evins, Jeffrey P Greenfield, and Susan C Pannullo.
• Department of Neurological Surgery, Rutgers University, Newark, New Jersey, USA; Medical Student Neurosurgery Training Center, Brain and Spine Group, Inc., Bridgewater, New Jersey, USA. Electronic address: Ryan.Rad@Rutgers.edu.
• World Neurosurg. 2022 Jul 1; 163: 171-178.

ObjectiveVirtual learning has made neurosurgery education more available to medical students (MSs) of all stages than ever before. We aimed to evaluate the impact of on-site learning in order to assess whether a return to this method of teaching, when safe, is warranted for MSs of all years.MethodsRegistrants of the 2019 MS Neurosurgery Training Camps were sent precourse and postcourse surveys to assess changes in self-assessed confidence in concrete neurosurgical skills. Data were analyzed using a 2-tailed paired Student's t-test for continuous variables. A P value <0.05 was considered significant.ResultsThe 2019 Training Camp had 105 attendees, of whom 94 (89.5%) completed both surveys. Students reported statistically significant improvements in every surveyed skill area, except for understanding what is and is not sterile in an operating room. The cohort of MS 3/4 students indicated a postcourse decrease in confidence in their ability to understand what is and is not sterile in an operating room (93.69 ± 16.41 vs. 86.20 ± 21.18; P < 0.05). MS 3/4 students did not benefit in their ability to perform a neurologic examination or tie knots using a 1-handed technique.ConclusionsNeurosurgical education initiatives for MSs should continue to be developed. Hands-on neurosurgical training experiences for MSs serve as a valuable educational experience. Improvement in training models will lead to capitalizing on MS education to better improve readiness for neurosurgical residency without concern for patient safety.Copyright © 2021 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

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