title: Surgical skills acquisition among left-handed trainees-true inferiority or unfair assessment: a preliminary study.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  Studies involving the formal assessment of surgical skills have often reported inferior abilities among left-handed surgical trainees (LHT). Most surgical training curricula and assessment methods, however, are inherently geared toward right-handed trainees (RHT); potentially placing LHT at both a training and assessment disadvantage. We evaluated the effect of a hand dominance-based curriculum for acquisition of basic suturing and knot tying skills among medical students.
  
  
  METHODS
  After Institutional Review Board approval, first- and second-year medical students from the University of California, Irvine School of Medicine were recruited to participate in a basic suturing and knot tying skills course. Consenting students were randomized to either a left-handed curriculum or a right-handed curriculum consisting of (1) a 30-minute introductory video and (2) a 2-hour instructor-led, hands-on training session on basic suturing and knot tying. All instructional methods, instruments, and instructors were exclusively right-handed or left-handed for the right-handed curriculum or left-handed curriculum, respectively. Students were assessed on the performance of 2 suturing tasks, continuous running suturing and instrument knot tying, and performance assessments were conducted both immediately and 2 weeks posttraining.
  
  
  RESULTS
  A total of 19 students completed the training course and both assessments (8 LHT, 11 RHT). Students randomized to a curriculum "concordant" with their hand dominance performed significantly better than those randomized to a "discordant" curriculum on both tasks (p < 0.01). This difference was found at both immediate and 2 weeks posttraining assessments. Within concordant and discordant groups, there were no significant differences between LHT and RHT.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  This preliminary study demonstrates that medical students, both LHT and RHT, immersed in a training environment that is discordant with their hand dominance might have inferior acquisition of basic suturing and knot tying skills.
authors: St. Michael's Hospital, Division of Urology, University of Toronto, Toronto, Ontario, Canada M5C 2T2. leejasoSMH@gmail.com
authors: Jason Y
authors: JY
authors: Lee
authors: Phillip
authors: P
authors: Mucksavage
authors: Elspeth M
authors: EM
authors: McDougall
mesh_terms: D002983:Clinical Competence; D004521:Educational Measurement; D005260:Female; D007839:Functional Laterality; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D013043:Specialties, Surgical / Q000193:education*; D013337:Students, Medical