The MISTELS program to measure technical skill in laparoscopic surgery : evidence for reliability.
BACKGROUND
The McGill Inanimate System for Training and Evaluation of Laparoscopic Skills (MISTELS) is a series of five tasks with an objective scoring system. The purpose of this study was to estimate the interrater and test-retest reliability of the MISTELS metrics and to assess their internal consistency.


METHODS
To determine interrater reliability, two trained observers scored 10 subjects, either live or on tape. Test-retest reliability was assessed by having 12 subjects perform two tests, the second immediately following the first. Interrater and test-retest reliability were assessed using intraclass correlation coefficients. Internal consistency between tasks was estimated using Cronbach's alpha.


RESULTS
The interrater and test-retest reliabilities for the total scores were both excellent at 0.998 [95% confidence interval (CI), 0.985-1.00] and 0.892 (95% CI, 0.665-0.968), respectively. Cronbach's alpha for the first assessment of the test-retest was 0.86.


CONCLUSIONS
The MISTELS metrics have excellent reliability, which exceeds the threshold level of 0.8 required for high-stakes evaluations. These findings support the use of MISTELS for evaluation in many different settings, including residency training programs.
Vassiliou
M C
MC
Steinberg-Bernstein Centre for Minimally Invasive Surgery, Department of Surgery, McGill University Health Centre, 1650 Cedar Avenue, #L9.309, Montreal, Quebec, H3G 1A4, Canada.
Ghitulescu
G A
GA
Feldman
L S
LS
Stanbridge
D
D
Leffondré
K
K
Sigman
H H
HH
Fried
G M
GM
D002983:Clinical Competence; D004521:Educational Measurement / Q000379:methods* / Q000592:standards; D013502:General Surgery / Q000193:education*; D006801:Humans; D010535:Laparoscopy; D015588:Observer Variation; D015203:Reproducibility of Results; D013536:Suture Techniques; D013647:Task Performance and Analysis; D013664:Teaching Materials