Neurosurgery Clerkships in United States Medical Schools: A Survey of MD- and DO-Granting Schools

Exposure to neurosurgery is important for knowledge of neurosurgical conditions that physicians may encounter. Current status of neurosurgery non-sub-internship clerkships in the United States (US) is unknown; this study determined availability and format of non-sub-internship neurosurgery clerkships in DO- and MD-granting US medical schools.Association of American Medical Colleges and American Association of Colleges of Osteopathic Medicine websites were used to obtain contact information for all US medical schools. Respondents were asked whether their school offered a non-sub-internship neurosurgery clerkship, if it was required, clerkship length, and whether the clerkship was embedded in another clerkship. Non-sub-internship clerkships/electives/selectives were defined as an exploratory neurosurgery rotation. For nonresponding schools, data was collected from school websites.Data was obtained for 180/199 US medical schools; 142 (79%) provided neurosurgery non-sub-internships, including 125/150 (83.3%) MD-granting and 17/30 (57%) DO-granting schools. Four MD-granting schools (2.8%) required the clerkship; 87/142 (61%) offered a standalone clerkship, 34/142 (24%) an embedded clerkship, 21/142 (15%) offered both. In total, 200 clerkships were offered across 142 schools. Most were either >1-2 weeks or >3-4 weeks (69/200, 35% and 89/200, 45%, respectively).Currently, most US medical schools provide elective neurosurgery non-sub-internships. Fewer, although still a majority, of DO-granting schools offer a neurosurgery non-sub-internship compared with MD-granting schools.