Evaluating the effectiveness of a 2-year curriculum in a surgical skills center.
BACKGROUND
This study was a formative evaluation of a 2-year Surgical Skills Center Curriculum (SSCC) using objective measures of surgical performance and self-reported process-oriented evaluations.


METHODS
Fifty postgraduate third-year (PGY-3) residents participated in an Objective Structured Assessment of Technical Skills (OSATS) examination. Nineteen residents underwent the SSCC and 31 residents did not. During the SSCC, self-reported student and faculty evaluations were completed after each session.


RESULTS
For the OSATS examination, scores were not significantly different between treatment and control groups, on either the checklist (66.4 +/- 6.1 versus 64.1 +/- 10.8) or global rating scale scores (66.9 +/- 6.9 versus 68.0 +/- 9.6). Further comparisons between groups on individual OSATS stations revealed no significant differences between groups. The majority of student and faculty evaluation remarks were highly positive.


CONCLUSIONS
The OSATS results failed to support our hypothesis that training on a core procedure in a single session during a SSCC would have an appreciable and sustained effect after 2 years. Self-reported process-oriented evaluations support the utility of our SSCC.
Anastakis
Dimitri J
DJ
Department of Surgery and Centre for Research in Education, University of Toronto, FP4-140, 399 Bathurst St., Toronto, ON, M5T 2S8, Canada. dimitri.anastakis@uhn.on.ca
Wanzel
Kyle R
KR
Brown
Mitchell H
MH
McIlroy
Jodi Herold
JH
Hamstra
Stanley J
SJ
Ali
Jameel
J
Hutchison
Carol R
CR
Murnaghan
John
J
Reznick
Richard K
RK
Regehr
Glenn
G
D002983:Clinical Competence; D003479:Curriculum; D013502:General Surgery / Q000193:education*; D006801:Humans; D007396:Internship and Residency / Q000458:organization & administration; D007753:Laboratories; D010043:Outcome and Process Assessment, Health Care; D012647:Self-Assessment; D013514:Surgical Procedures, Operative / Q000193:education* / Q000592:standards*; D013663:Teaching / Q000379:methods