634 Bridging the Multi-Specialty Gap: The Impact of a Student-Led Orthoplastics Conference on Medical Students’ Confidence in and Understanding of Interdisciplinary Surgical Collaboration

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Abstract Aim Multidisciplinary approaches, such as orthoplastics, improve outcomes in complex trauma care, yet few conferences emphasise interdisciplinary collaboration. This student-led conference aimed to raise awareness of interdisciplinary collaboration and enhance medical students’ confidence in orthoplastic principles, as well as their understanding of the roles of plastic and orthopaedic surgeons in delivering trauma care. Method Thirty-one medical students attended a one-day conference featuring morning lectures by plastic and orthopaedic surgeons, case-based discussions and afternoon workshops on suturing, flap reconstruction, toe amputation and external fixation. Pre- and post-conference Likert surveys assessed participants' perceptions, familiarity, confidence and understanding of orthoplastics collaboration. Wilcoxon signed-rank tests determined statistical significance. Results Pre-conference, 51.6% of participants were entirely unfamiliar with orthoplastics, while 87.1% rated collaboration as very important. Post-conference, mean confidence in orthoplastic principles increased from 1.71 ± 0.97 to 3.58 ± 0.67 (p < 0.01) and mean understanding of surgeons' roles from 2.77 ± 1.18 to 3.90 ± 0.60 (plastic surgeons, p < 0.01) and 2.84 ± 1.21 to 3.90 ± 0.65 (orthopaedic surgeons, p < 0.01). Overall, familiarity improved in 87.1% of participants, confidence improved in 90.3% and understanding of the roles of plastic and orthopaedic surgeons improved in 67.7% and 71.0% respectively. Conclusions The conference significantly improved students' confidence, understanding and awareness of interdisciplinary surgical collaboration. While many participants were unfamiliar with orthoplastics pre-conference, most recognised interdisciplinary collaboration as very important - highlighting a critical gap in surgical education. Rolling out similar events nationwide through student societies and integrating them into medical school curricula could further address this gap and better prepare future clinicians for collaborative surgical care.

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