Budding surgeons take part in new Surgical Skills Internship program

McMaster’s anatomy labs were busy this summer. A group of 32 students scrubbed up and explored the field of anatomy, as they learned and practised dissection skills on porcine tissues.

Open to any student aged 17 and up, the newly launched McMaster Surgical Skills Internship (MSSI) program took place this summer in the IAHS anatomy lab at the Westdale campus. The budding surgeons learned technical skills, studied human anatomy, and explored the health care system.

The week-long experience was organized by Healthcare Skills Internship (HSI), recently founded by three McMaster students, Avrilynn Ding, Puru Panchal and Tanishq Suryavanshi.

“Many students are interested in anatomy and dissection, but have little opportunity to explore these skills,” said Suryavanshi, a medical student at McMaster. “Our goal was to provide this exposure early, in combination with a broader view of health care, to better inform students about the impact they can make on our health care system.”

This summer’s pilot program was designed to determine what students are interested in and address gaps in students’ knowledge. In the hands-on component of the program, students practised suturing, vessel ligation, anastomoses, and other popular surgical techniques. In the classroom, students then explored the structure and function of the human body, patient communication skills, medical humanities, the history of medicine, and other aspects of health care.

Read an op-ed in the Toronto Star written by Tanishq Suryavanshi and Jake Hirsch-Allen, urging the creation of a national pharmacare program.