Evaluation of a Structured, Iteratively Developed Surgical and Perioperative Care Teaching Programme for Undergraduate Medical Students: A Single-Centre Educational Evaluation.

Background Undergraduate surgical education is often affected by variable clinical exposure, inconsistent teaching opportunities, and limited structured preparation for peri-operative care and surgical assessments. Year 4 medical students undertaking the Surgery and Peri-operative Care module at Sandwell Hospital reported low confidence across several surgical and peri-operative domains. Methods A single-centre educational evaluation was conducted at Sandwell and West Birmingham NHS Trust (SWBH) among Year 4 medical students undertaking the University of Birmingham Surgery and Peri-operative Care (SPC) attachment. "SPC Made Easy" was designed by the Clinical Teaching Fellows using University learning outcomes and delivered across five-week rotations as six two-hour sessions. Teaching was delivered by resident doctors and the Clinical Teaching Fellows and covered key SPC topics, including Ear, Nose and Throat (ENT), anaesthetics, urology, breast surgery, orthopaedics, and peri-operative care. The programme was iteratively refined using student feedback: early quiz-style consolidation was removed after students reported limited educational value, and practical clinical skills teaching using models and mannequins was incorporated, including digital rectal, breast, and testicular examinations. The programme also included case-based learning and a supervised peer-led mock Objective Structured Clinical Examination (OSCE) with post-station feedback. Anonymous pre- and post-programme questionnaires assessed self-rated knowledge across surgical and peri-operative domains, while separate pre- and post-mock OSCE questionnaires assessed confidence in OSCE-related tasks. Because responses were anonymous and could not be paired, data were analysed as independent samples using descriptive statistics and Mann-Whitney U tests. Results A total of 43 pre-programme and 20 post-programme questionnaires were returned. Self-rated knowledge improved across all seven surgical and peri-operative domains, with statistically significant improvements in anaesthetics, pre-operative care, ENT surgery, urology, orthopaedic surgery, rheumatology, and post-operative care. Median ratings increased from 1-2 before the programme to 4-5 after the programme across most domains. The largest improvements were seen in ENT, urology, orthopaedics, and post-operative care. In the mock OSCE evaluation, confidence improved across all assessed domains, including overall OSCE performance, surgical history taking, practical examination skills, and giving peer feedback. Post-programme acceptability was high, with all respondents stating that they would recommend SPC Made Easy to future students. Conclusions SPC Made Easy was associated with improved self-rated knowledge and confidence across core surgical and peri-operative domains. The programme was feasible to deliver within a five-week clinical attachment and was strengthened by iterative student feedback, which shifted the programme from passive quiz-style consolidation towards practical, clinically relevant examination skills. The findings are limited by the single-centre design, small post-programme and mock OSCE sample sizes, anonymous unmatched responses, and reliance on self-reported outcomes rather than objective performance measures.