Original Article Vascular surgery: What increases the flow of students to the speciality? Mohammed Adil A Turki 1 , Alexander Zargaran 1 , Aasim Murtaza 1 , Amal Thomas 1 , Harry Spiers 1 , Moneet Gill 1 , Shaurya Aggarwal 1 , Sarah Turki 2 and David Zargaran 3 Abstract Objectives: Vascular surgery is in increasing demand due to the higher prevalence of cardiovascular disease in the general population. Meanwhile, applications to join the speciality have been in decline in the last few years. St George’s Surgical Society held a one-day conference to expose undergraduates to the speciality in the hope that this will inspire more undergraduates to pursue it as a career. Methods: The conference consisted of introductory lectures delivered by a consultant vascular surgeon, followed by practical skills workshops simulating aortic anastomosis on porcine aortas. Pre-course and post-course questionnaires assessed positive and negative perceptions of vascular surgery, knowledge of and self-reported confidence in practical surgical skills and utility of the course in their decision to potentially pursue a career in vascular surgery. Results: There was a significant increase of 27% (p ¼ 0.03) in the positive perception that vascular surgery includes a diverse range of procedures and subspecialties. Attendees reported a 27% significant increase (p ¼ 0.02) in the percep- tion that vascular surgery had a wide array of opportunity for academic/research work. Finally, there was an 18% decrease (p ¼ 0.03) in the negative perception that vascular surgery is somehow female-unfriendly or discriminatory against females. There was also a significant rise in both interest (33%) and understanding (73%) of vascular surgery. Conclusions: A one-day conference can significantly impact students’ perception especially when there is a lack of exposure within the undergraduate curriculum. This course helped to increase positive perception and dispute negative misconceptions about the speciality. The simulation workshops held at this conference increased students’ confidence and awareness of relevant surgical skills. This conference provided a unique experience that positively impacted and inspired students and thus served as an important supplement to core medical curriculum. Keywords Vascular surgery, surgery, London, medical students, perceptions, St George’s Introduction Vascular surgery was formally recognised as a surgical speciality by the UK’s parliament in 2012 with the first trainees specialising in 2013. 1 Vascular surgeons are responsible for treating one of the highest causes of death in the UK, atherosclerosis. 2 Atherosclerosis is increasing in prevalence with the ageing population and, as such, the demand for vascular surgeons will increase. 3 Over the last few years, interest and applica- tions to specialise in vascular surgery have been in decline. 3,4 This justifies the need to inspire and motivate medical students and graduates to pursue a career in vascular surgery. This paper explores the prevalence of a variety of different positive and negative perceptions of vascular surgery that may encourage or deter medical students from pursuing a career in vascular surgery. Factors that have been shown to affect career choices for medical students: exposure to the surgical speciality at hand, mentorship, the perceived lifestyle of surgeons in the speciality, the diversity of 1 Department of Medicine, St George’s, University of London, London, UK 2 Department of Medicine, King Abdulaziz University, Jeddah, Saudi Arabia 3 Department of Medicine, Imperial College London, London, UK Corresponding author: Mohammed Adil ATurki, St George’s University of London, Cranmer Terrace, London, SW17 0RE UK. Email: drmturki4@gmail.com Vascular 0(0) 1–7 ! The Author(s) 2018 Article reuse guidelines: sagepub.com/journals-permissions DOI: 10.1177/1708538118809854 journals.sagepub.com/home/vas