Incoming residents’ knot-tying and suturing skills: Are medical school boot camps sufficient?

Many medical schools offer M4 boot camps to improve students’ preparedness for surgical residencies. For three consecutive years, we investigated the impact of medical school boot camps on intern knot-tying and suturing skills when measured at the start of residency. Forty-two interns completed questionnaires regarding their boot camp experiences. Their performance on knot-tying and suturing exercises was scored by three surgeons blinded to the questionnaire results. A comparison of these scores of interns with or without boot camp experiences was performed and statistical analysis applied. 26 of 42 (62%) interns reported boot camp training. There were no differences in scores between interns with or without a M4 boot camp experience for suturing [9.6(4.6) vs 9.8(4.1), p