Comparison of resident self-assessments with trained faculty and standardized patient assessments of clinical and technical skills in a structured educational module.
BACKGROUND
This study assessed the reliability of surgical resident self-assessment in comparison with faculty and standardized patient (SP) assessments during a structured educational module focused on perioperative management of a simulated adverse event.


METHODS
Seven general surgery residents participated in this module. Residents were assessed during videotaped preoperative and postoperative SP encounters and when dissecting a tumor off of a standardized inanimate vena cava model in a simulated operating room.


RESULTS
Preoperative and postoperative assessments by SPs correlated significantly (P < .05) with faculty assessments (r = .75 and r = .79, respectively), but not resident self-assessments. Coefficient alpha was greater than .70 for all assessments except resident preoperative self-assessments.


CONCLUSIONS
Faculty and SP assessments can provide reliable data useful for formative feedback. Although resident self-assessment may be useful for the formative assessment of technical skills, results suggest that in the absence of training, residents are not reliable self-assessors of preoperative and postoperative interactions with SPs.
Brewster
Luke P
LP
Loyola University Medical Center, Department of Surgery, Maywood, IL, USA.
Risucci
Donald A
DA
Joehl
Raymond J
RJ
Littooy
Fred N
FN
Temeck
Barbara K
BK
Blair
Patrice Gabler
PG
Sachdeva
Ajit K
AK
D001076:Aptitude; D002983:Clinical Competence; D004521:Educational Measurement; D005180:Faculty, Medical; D013502:General Surgery / Q000193:education*; D006470:Hemorrhage / Q000601:surgery; D006801:Humans; D007396:Internship and Residency; D008297:Male; D017145:Models, Educational; D009369:Neoplasms / Q000601:surgery; D017060:Patient Satisfaction; D019990:Perioperative Care; D010817:Physician-Patient Relations; D015203:Reproducibility of Results; D012647:Self-Assessment; D012655:Self-Evaluation Programs; D013514:Surgical Procedures, Operative / Q000193:education; D014342:Truth Disclosure; D014682:Vena Cava, Inferior / Q000601:surgery