Utilizing Surgical Bootcamps to Teach Core Entrustable Professional Activities to Senior Medical Students

Abstract

To promote residency preparedness, the Association of American Medical Colleges defined 13 core entrustable professional activities for entering residency (CEPAERs), which represent tasks that students should be able to perform on day one of residency. At the authors’ institution, a four-week surgery boot camp course is offered to senior medical students, which may provide an effective mechanism for teaching the CEPAERs. Nine senior students participating in a surgery boot camp course were subjected to pre- and post-course surveys. Student expectations were closely aligned with the CEPAERs. Competence was demonstrated in all CEPAERs; however, four students did require remediation with Advanced Cardiovascular Life Support before achieving competence. In the “death on the wards module,” we found a significant increase in student confidence (19.78, SD 1.47, P > 0.05 vs 31.56, SD 1.49, P < 0.01) and knowledge (16.11, SD 1.32, P > 0.05 vs 31.33, SD 2.04, P < 0.01). In a one-year follow-up survey, all participants agreed that the boot camp course was useful and positively impacted their intern year. Surgical boot camp courses provide an effective and reproducible means for teaching the CEPAERs and was found useful in preparing medical students for residency.