Efficacy of cognitive feedback in improving operative risk estimation

Area of Science:

• Medical Education
• Surgical Training
• Cognitive Psychology

Background:

• Surgical decision-making requires objective feedback, which is often lacking.
• Cognitive feedback enhances understanding of risk factors and their relation to surgical outcomes.
• This study investigates the impact of cognitive feedback on surgical risk estimation.

Purpose of the Study:

• To evaluate the effect of cognitive feedback on the accuracy and reliability of surgical risk estimates.
• To compare the impact of feedback on medical students versus surgical trainees.
• To assess the implications for surgical training and assessment.

Main Methods:

• 105 medical students and surgical trainees estimated operative mortality for 28 surgical vignettes.
• Estimates were compared against a published risk model (gold standard).
• Participants were re-assessed after receiving cognitive feedback.

Main Results:

• Cognitive feedback significantly improved the reliability of risk estimates in both groups.
• Medical students' accuracy improved post-feedback to match that of surgical trainees.
• Surgical trainees showed no significant improvement in accuracy, suggesting a potential ceiling effect.

Conclusions:

• Cognitive feedback is effective in enhancing risk estimate reliability and accuracy in surgical trainees and medical students.
• The findings highlight the potential of cognitive feedback in surgical education and assessment.
• Further research may explore advanced feedback methods for experienced surgeons.