Hi guys, wondering about this for a while.
My initial thought was to laugh and say no.
Further research here: https://www.aamc.org/initiatives/cir/406450/05a.html
shows that there are a handful of US (2-4) that report not requiring a surgical clerkship. Unclear if that’s a reporting error or not though.
I looked at the webpage and it appears to be a statistical reporting issue. Of the 145 med schools that participated in the questionnaire, only 143 answered the question–at-all-- about surgery. (NOT answered the question as no.) This means the status surgical rotations of the remaining 2 programs is unknown.
P.S. @Brandonlee0224 You will be exposed to/ be required to participate surgeries in other clinical rotations besides surgery. OB/GYN always includes obstetric (C-sections) and gynecological surgical procedures as part of the med student rotation. You may be required to participate in/observe surgery even in non-surgical fields like peds. (D1 observed/assisted in pediatric orthopedic surgery for a full week during her pediatric rotation in med school.)
FWIW, medical students don’t “do surgery” during medical school anyway. It’s mostly holding retractors and watching with maybe some suturing of the skin at the end.
Certainly, once you graduate you can easily never set foot in an OR again.