Teaching techniques in the operating room: the importance of perceptual motor teaching

To identify sucessful teaching techniques in the operating room environment through examining the teaching of the midurethral sling (MUS) surgery.

The authors distributed questionnaires with open-ended questions about teaching and learning MUS to 5 urogynecology attendings and 16 obstetrics-gynecology residents in spring 2010. In an effort to identify qualities of an effective sling teacher, the authors used grounded theory to determine common themes and to code participant responses for examples.

Of 21 potential respondents, 14 (67%) returned questionnaires. The authors analyzed these and identified seven commonalities among effective sling teachers: they (1) emphasize anatomical landmarks (as determined by 64 total comments); (2) use perceptual-motor teaching (PMT; 38 comments); (3) encourage repetition (28); (4) promote early independence (34); (5) demonstrate confident competence (23); (6) maintain a calm demeanor in the operating room (20); and (7) exhibit a willingness to accept responsibility for mistakes and consequences (9). The second-most common attribute, using PMT, requires the teaching attending to emphasize the motor and tactile aspects of operating and involves incorporating not only what learners see but also what they feel.

The authors report seven qualities or techniques fundamental to good teaching practice in a high-stress, high-technology surgical environment, and they have identified the use of PMT, which to their knowledge has not been previously described. Teachers and learners in this study characterized PMT, which is likely generalizable to surgical procedures other than the MUS, as important. Future research should focus on exploring this technique in other surgeries.