Two-year skill retention and certification exam performance after fundamentals of laparoscopic skills training and proficiency maintenance.
BACKGROUND
The purpose of this study was to determine 2-year performance retention and certification exam pass rate after completion of a proficiency-based fundamental laparoscopic skills (FLS) curriculum and subsequent interval training.


METHODS
Surgery residents (postgraduate year [PGY]1-5, n = 91) were enrolled in an Institutional Review Board approved protocol. All participants initially underwent proficiency-based training on all 5 FLS tasks. Subsequently, available residents were enrolled every 6 months in an ongoing training curriculum that included retention tests on tasks 4 and 5, with mandatory retraining to proficiency if the proficiency levels were not achieved. The final retention test included the actual FLS certification examination for PGY4-5 trainees.


RESULTS
A 96% participation rate was achieved for all curricular components during the 2-year study period (PGY3-5, n = 33). Skill retention at retention 1-4 was 83%, 94%, 98%, and 91% for task 4 and 85%, 95%, 96%, and 100% for task 5, respectively. All PGY4-5 (n = 20) residents passed the FLS certification examination, achieving 413 +/- 28 total score on the skills portion (passing score > or =270) and demonstrating 92% retention for all 5 tasks.


CONCLUSIONS
Proficiency-based training with subsequent ongoing practice results in a very high level of skill retention after 2 years and uniformly allows trainees to pass the FLS certification examination.
Mashaud
Lauren B
LB
Department of Clinical Sciences, Division of Biostatistics, Southwestern Center for Minimally Invasive Surgery, University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center, Dallas, TX 75390, USA.
Castellvi
Antonio O
AO
Hollett
Lisa A
LA
Hogg
Deborah C
DC
Tesfay
Seifu T
ST
Scott
Daniel J
DJ
D002568:Certification / Q000592:standards; D002983:Clinical Competence; D003479:Curriculum; D004502:Education, Medical, Continuing; D013502:General Surgery / Q000193:education* / Q000592:standards; D006801:Humans; D010535:Laparoscopy / Q000592:standards; D012955:Societies, Medical; D013781:Texas; D013997:Time Factors; D014481:United States