The Need to Re-Learn

There is an essential need to provide well-rounded education to all students. It's especially important that medical students have the proper groundwork to prepare them for their careers as physicians. However, schools in California have seen a high rate of students forced to get remediation in order to supplement their educational understanding.

According to a recent Archives of Surgery report, among 348 general surgery residents across six medical schools, 31% had to either repeat a year or complete additional training through schools or conferences. However, this need for remediation was centered mainly around first and second year students.

"The take-home message is in some respects a positive one in that yes, the rate of remediation is high, but if you look at when this occurred, most residents required it in their first or second year out of five, and by identifying this and putting them in a remediation plan, we were able to successfully get them to graduate. In addition, most of them were able to pass their boards on their first attempt." ~ Christian de Virgilio, MD

Correcting the issue early in their education seems to put the students on the right track and allows them to improve over time. However, there still exists a need to correct the issue before remediation is required. Putting the pressure on faculty to provide remediation can also cause ripple effects, such as increased work load, demand for closer supervision, and possible complications in patient care. By correcting the issues before they create the need for remediation, both students and educators can ease the learning process and create the strong basis that physicians-in-training will need as they embark onto their career.