An audit of clinical teaching in paediatric surgery to interns and surgical registrars

Objectives: The study aimed to assess the knowledge increment in paediatric surgery of interns (pre-registration) after a 1-month period of training and of registrars after a 6-month rotation. A comparison of the knowledge base of interns from different universities was included. Design: A standard questionnaire was completed by all interns and registrars on the first day of their appointment and again at the end of rotation. Knowledge increment was assessed for each student and each question. Setting: King Edward VIII Hospital, Durban, South Africa. Subjects: Interns (equivalent to pre-registration house officers) and registrars (registered practitioners) undergoing general surgical training. Results: Both registrars and interns improved their test scores after their training period. However, satisfactory exit scores were achieved by interns in only 72% of questions. Conclusions: This study forms the basis for assessing future educational strategies and has identified areas of teaching weakness which can be remedied. The reduction in exposure of interns to clinical paediatric surgery must be balanced by more efficient use of teaching time.