Perceptions of Neurosurgery among Medical Students and Interns: A National Cross-Sectional Study.

Background: Neurosurgery is considered one of the most admired surgical specializations. Still, as evidenced by observations over the years, it is not amongst the top choices of medical students in Saudi Arabia. This study will help in understanding the perception and attitudes of medical students and interns toward the neurosurgery specialization, which will aid in developing strategies to increase the interest of undergraduates in neurosurgery specialization and bridge the human resource gap in this vital specialty. Objectives: This study aimed to assess perceptions, attitudes, and gender differences of medical students and interns toward neurosurgery. The influence of demographic factors on perceptions of neurosurgery of interns and senior medical students in Saudi Arabia was also investigated. Methodology: We conducted a cross-sectional study on a convenience sample of medical students (clinical years) and interns studying in different colleges of medicine in Saudi Arabia. A total of 1014 responses were included in this study (518 males and 496 females). The questionnaire comprised of two parts: the first part carried general descriptive questions, while the second part had 24-item Likert scale-based questions. Results: Around 40% of medical students and 26% of interns agreed or strongly agreed to the statement 'I would consider a career in neurosurgery. Around 70% of both interns and students agreed or strongly agreed with the statement 'Huge prestige is attached to neurosurgery'. The responses to the statement 'Neurosurgery is a male specialty' was significantly different between genders, as 36.5% of the male respondents agreed or strongly agreed with the statement while just 12.5% of the females responded likewise (p = 0.000). Only 23% of participants reported having completed a rotation in neurosurgery. About 44.7% of respondents were interested in taking an elective rotation in neurosurgery, while the remaining respondents (55.3%) responded with a negative answer. Only 23% of participants had completed an undergraduate rotation in neurosurgery. More males (65.3%) agreed or strongly agreed with the statement 'Work as a neurosurgery specialist can impede family life as compared to females (57.5%), which was highly significant (p = 0.000). More medical students (45.1%) responded in the agreement or strong agreement in response to the statement' Neurosurgery should be a compulsory rotation during internship' as compared to interns (25.8%). Around 65% of the respondents agreed or strongly agreed that teachers/seniors have a great influence on students' specialization choices. Around 67% of the respondents foresaw a purely clinical role for themselves after graduation, while 17% were interested in a clinical-academician role. Conclusions: The study reflected a generally positive attitude towards neurosurgery amongst medical students and interns. Interest in neurosurgery as a specialization can be strengthened by enhancing the exposure of students and interns to the specialty. Teachers and seniors can be useful influencers to motivate students to consider neurosurgery specialization.

Traumatic spinal cord injury in southern Saudi Arabia: Patterns, time to surgery and outcomes.

INTRODUCTION: Spinal cord injury (SCI) is an unbearable neurological disorder. which has a destructive socioeconomic effect of affected individual, their families and the healthcare systems. Stressful spinal cord damages are caused by road traffic misfortunes, violence, sports or falls. METHODS: Retrospective study of 112 spinal cord injured patient admitted to Aseer Central hospital (ACH) between the years 2016 and 2018. RESULTS: The present study includes 112 cases of TSCI patients who admitted to Asser Central Hospital and surgically treated, with mean age 32.1 ± 14.12 years. Males were the mostly affected by almost 90.2%. Lower level of education is seen in 69.6% of patients; while only 30.3% of patients had university education or higher. Motor vehicle accidents (MVA) and falls are the only two causes of spinal cord injuries in this study; however, MVA was the cause of SCI in (79.5%) and 20.5% for falls. CONCLUSIONS: MVAs are the most source of spinal cord injuries in Southern Saudi Arabia with high male predominance. Despite the lack of significance between shorter time to surgery, and improvement in ASIA score, it was found that shorter time to surgery plays an important role in reducing the post-operative intensive care unit and ward stay, potentially reducing possible long stay related complications and eventually reducing health care cost.