Abstract Purpose:

To evaluate whether undergraduate students feel motivated to develop surgical skills and know their impression about the importance of having a surgical technique discipline in the curriculum of a medical school.

Methods:

A prospective study including three classes in a row, from the 8th period (n = 265) evaluated the knowledge acquired at the Center of Experimental Surgery, Department of Surgery, School of Medicine of Federal University of Rio de Janeiro (UFRJ). The importance of the discipline for medical training as a way of encouragement to arouse and deepen the interest in surgical technique was emphasized. The questions were scored from 1 to 5 (worst to best grade) .

Results:

Concerning the importance of the discipline for medical training, 78% and 18% of the students assigned a score 5 and 4, respectively. Regarding the stimulus to improve their surgical technical skills, 40% and 32% attributed the score 5 and 4, respectively.

Conclusion:

Undergraduate students from the Medical School of UFRJ effectively shared the understanding that the operative technique bases improve the formative process with significant impact, not only in the development of skills, but also to arouse vocations and stimulate new attitudes aimed to knowledge acquirement in the field of Surgery.