Reinvigorating medical student mentorships in neurosurgery during the pandemic: Lessons learned from Iraq

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Background: The interest in clinical research is growing worldwide, and the involvement of medical students in academic and clinical research is increasing. Medical students in Iraq have started to focus on academic activities. However, this trend is in its infancy due to limited resources and the war burden. Their interest in the field of Neurosurgery has been evolving recently. This is the first paper that aims to assess the status of the academic productivity of Iraqi medical students within the neurosurgical field. Methods: We searched the PubMed Medline database and Google scholar between January 2020 and December 2022 with a different combination of keywords. Additional results were obtained by individually searching for all the medical universities in Iraq that participated in the neurosurgical literature. Results: Between January 2020 and December 2022, 60 neurosurgical publications included Iraqi medical students. 47 Iraqi medical students from 9 universities (the University of Baghdad 28 students, followed by 6 students from the University of Al-Nahrain, and others) were involved in these 60 neurosurgery publications. The topics of these publications are “vascular neurosurgery” (n = 36) followed by “neurotrauma” (n = 11). Conclusion: Academic productivity of Iraqi medical students in the field of Neurosurgery has surged in the last 3 years. In the past 3 years, 47 Iraqi medical students from nine different Iraqi universities contributed to sixty international neurosurgical publications. However, there are challenges that are required to be tackled to establish a research-friendly environment despite wars and restrained resources.

Section: Resultsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Resultsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Author Name Number Of Publications Type Of Authorshipmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Academic productivity of Iraqi medical students in the field of neurosurgery: A literature review

Ismail

Algburi

Al-Khazaal

et al. 2023

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“…Literature suggests mentors can be crucial for professional success, increasing satisfaction, productivity, diversity, and inclusivity. [2,8,11,14,15,17,24] is is not surprising, as many milestones required for obtaining a neurosurgical training number, such as conducting research, often require mentorship.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Role of a medical student neuro-society organized neurosurgical conference: The Glasgow neuro experience

Ashraf

Ismahel

Lub

et al. 2023

Background: Entering neurosurgical training in the United Kingdom demands extensive prior commitment and achievement, despite little to no exposure to the specialty in medical school. Conferences run by student “neuro-societies” offer a means to bridge this gap. This paper describes one student-led neuro-society’s experience of curating a 1-day national neurosurgical conference supported by our neurosurgical department. Methods: A pre-and post-conference survey was distributed to attendees to ascertain baseline opinions and conference impact using a five-point Likert Scale, and free text questions explored medical students’ opinions of neurosurgery and neurosurgical training. The conference offered four lectures and three workshops; the latter provided practical skills and networking opportunities. There were also 11 posters displayed throughout the day. Results: 47 medical students participated in our study. Post-conference, participants were more likely to understand what a neurosurgical career involves and how to secure training. They also reported increased knowledge about neurosurgery research, electives, audits, and project opportunities. Respondents enjoyed the workshops provided and suggested the inclusion of more female speakers in future. Conclusion: Neurosurgical conferences organized by student neuro-societies successfully address the gap between a lack of neurosurgery exposure and a competitive training selection. These events give medical students an initial understanding of a neurosurgical career through lectures and practical workshops; attendees also gain insight into attaining relevant achievements and have an opportunity to present research. Student neuro-society-organized conferences have the potential to be adopted internationally and used as a tool to educate on a global level and greatly aid medical students who are aspiring neurosurgeons.

“…In the previous work of Dr. Hoz (vascular neurosurgeon, neurosurgery teaching hospital, Baghdad, Iraq, now postdoctoral fellow, Department of Neurosurgery, University of Cincinnati, Cincinnati, Ohio, USA) and his team includes a paper in which Dr. Hoz described how he was able to inspire students to become interested in the central nervous system by developing weekly talks, laboratory sessions for direct surgical experience, and interactive relationships necessary to stimulate long-term interest in neurosurgery and other areas of medicine. [ 3 ] In another paper, the authors describe extending this educational experience with the attendees and an international faculty using interactive presentations to introduce all participants to the ideas of others. The survey reported in this paper shows how the attendees of these monthly conferences reacted to the different types of interactions and discussions and how they were affected by the meeting.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

SNI/SNI Digital-Baghdad neurosurgery educational series

Ismail

Al-Ageely

Abdualmurtafie

et al. 2022

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Background: Access to high-quality neurosurgery online learning is limited in low- and middle-income countries, and Iraq is part of this category. The need for collaboration and connection of people worldwide to exchange ideas and experiences in neurosurgery is a challenge. Surgical Neurology International® (SNI)/SNI Digital stimulated the establishment of the joint effort to bring the discussion about the best experiences in neurosurgery from the United States and Iraq together in an internet meeting format. Methods: An online survey was formulated and distributed to the attendees of the SNI-Baghdad neurosurgery meetings. The survey investigates the last 14 consecutive meetings for the period May/2021–April/2022. The online survey was designed utilizing Google Forms. The survey outline includes demographics, general aspects of the meetings, research aspects, surgical anatomy, neuroradiology, and capacity-building aspects. All these sections of the survey used a 5-point Likert scale. Results: The total number of participants was 84 out of 115 sent, with a response rate of 73.1%. The participants were diverse as they ranged from medical students to attending neurosurgeons. The male-to-female ratio was 1:1. Most attendees were from Baghdad (n = 66 [77.6%]) and the highest number of the responders was from the University of Baghdad (n = 46 [54.1%]). Conclusion: The targeted online collaborative meetings, SNI-Baghdad neurosurgery meeting as an example, give an insight into the effectiveness of such methods in providing a mutually beneficial educational experience between people of different parts of the world, as assessed by a survey initiated and performed by the attendees.