Multicenter longitudinal assessment of resident technical skills

Our aim was to report the longitudinal assessment of technical performance of general surgery residents on select tasks from multiple programs over a 2-year period.

An institutional review board-approved, multi-institutional collaborative study was undertaken with yearly resident performance assessments over a 3-year period. General surgery residents (postgraduate year [PGY] 1 to 5) were tested on 3 laparoscopic and 5 open simulated surgical tasks. Resident performance was compared individually over time and among interns and more senior residents.

Forty-one residents from 4 residency programs were evaluated. Scores increased in all tasks with each assessment, plateauing at a lower PGY level for open tasks compared with laparoscopic tasks. Change in performance scores between assessments were higher for interns compared with more senior residents (P < .003).

Resident performance on basic open and laparoscopic tasks assessed over time improved the most between the PGY 1 and 2 levels and was dependent on task difficulty. This documented skill evolution may allow tailoring of skills curricula to both meet existing needs and minimize performance variability.