Surgery and Surgical Training Before Graduate Medical Education

Objective:To update and add to the first report commissioned by the Blue Ribbon Committee (BRC) about 20 years prior.Background:Following a summit in late 2022 commissioned by the American Board of Surgery regarding competency-based reforms in surgical education and through a partnership with the American College of Surgeons and other stakeholders, a BRC-II on surgical education was formed. The BRC-II would have 7 subcommittees. This paper details the work of the Medical Student Subcommittee within the BRC-II.Methods:The subcommittee's work, supported by staff from the American College of Surgeons, entailed a thorough literature review, which involved collating and aggregating the findings, identifying key challenges and opportunities, and committing to draft recommendations. These recommendations were then presented and refined through discussions with the BRC at large in multiple virtual and in-person settings.Results:The subcommittee's work is detailed below and further summarized in table format. The section below elucidates the medical student education continuum and discusses the pertinent topics of recruitment, surgical engagement in medical student training and the surgical image, training for the current surgical practice model, trainee selection for graduate medical education, and optimizing the transition from undergraduate medical education to graduate medical education.Conclusions:The last 2 decades have shown significant changes and shifts in medical education and surgical practice. The findings of BRC-II in this manuscript help to structure the current and future necessary improvements, focusing on different aspects of medical student education.