A comprehensive examination for senior surgical residents.
BACKGROUND
Two complimentary examinations designed to comprehensively assess competence for surgical practice have been developed. The Objective Structured Assessment of Technical Skill (OSATS) evaluates a resident's operative skill, and the Patient Assessment and Management Examination (PAME) evaluates clinical management skills.


METHODS
Twenty-four postgraduate year (PGY)-4 and PGY-5 general surgery residents from four training programs were examined. Each examination had eight stations, with a total of 6 hours of testing time.


RESULTS
Interstation reliability for the OSATS was 0.64, for the PAME was 0.71, and for the total test was 0. 74. Examination scores discriminated between PGY-4 and PGY-5 residents for the OSATS (t = 4.39, P <.01), the PAME (t = 1.86, P <. 05), and the total examination (t = 3.90, P <.01). Year of training accounted for 40%, of the variance of scores.


CONCLUSIONS
This comprehensive examination is a reliable and valid method of assessing critical skills in senior surgical residents and may be useful for the formal assessment of readiness for practice.
MacRae
H
H
Department of Surgery and Centre for Research in Education, Faculty of Medicine, University of Toronto, Toronto, Ontario, Canada.
Regehr
G
G
Leadbetter
W
W
Reznick
R K
RK
D002983:Clinical Competence / Q000592:standards; D004521:Educational Measurement / Q000379:methods* / Q000592:standards; D005240:Feasibility Studies; D013502:General Surgery / Q000193:education*; D006801:Humans; D007396:Internship and Residency / Q000145:classification / Q000592:standards; D009864:Ontario; D015203:Reproducibility of Results; D013997:Time Factors