Related Experiment Videos
Assessing the teaching of technical skills
Sudip K Sarker1, Charles Vincent, Ara W Darzi
1Clinical Safety Research Units, Department of Surgical Oncology and Technology, St Mary's Hospital, Imperial College London, 89 Cornwall Gardens, South Kensington, London SW7 4AX, United Kingdom. s.sarker@imperial.ac.uk
American Journal of Surgery
|April 12, 2005
Summary
This study developed a practical tool to assess the teaching of technical skills in surgery. The assessment instrument demonstrated good reliability, showing potential for evaluating technical task instruction.
Area of Science:
- Medical Education
- Surgical Skills Assessment
- Health Professions Education
Background:
- Lack of structured instruments for assessing technical skills instruction.
- Need for a practical and user-friendly tool to evaluate the teaching of technical skills.
Purpose of the Study:
- To develop a practical assessment tool for evaluating the teaching of technical skills.
- To create an instrument that is easy to use and applicable to various technical tasks.
Main Methods:
- Development of a 5-point Likert global rating scale.
- Independent assessment of 42 surgeries (26 open, 16 laparoscopic) by an experienced surgeon.
- Trainee use of the assessment tool post-surgery.
Main Results:
- The assessment tool was used to evaluate 42 surgical procedures.
- High interrater reliability (kappa coefficient = .77, P < .05) was achieved between the independent assessor and trainees.
- The tool demonstrated effectiveness in assessing technical skills teaching.
Conclusions:
- The developed instrument shows potential for assessing any taught technical task.
- Future expansion of the study to surgery and other medical specialties is planned.
- The tool may be valuable for evaluating technical skills in fields like internal medicine for procedures such as chest drain insertion.