Comparison of faculty versus structured peer-feedback for acquisitions of basic and intermediate-level surgical...

Area of Science:

• Medical Education
• Surgical Training
• Skills Acquisition

Background:

• Faculty feedback is crucial for surgical skill development but often limited by availability.
• Video feedback has demonstrated efficacy in improving surgical performance.

Purpose of the Study:

• To compare the effectiveness of structured peer-feedback (PF) against faculty-feedback (FF) in acquiring basic and intermediate surgical skills.
• To assess the utility of peer-feedback as a viable alternative to direct faculty supervision.

Main Methods:

• Two randomized non-inferiority trials involving first and second-year medical students.
• Participants practiced skin-lesion excision and closure, and single-layer hand-sewn bowel anastomosis.
• Peer-feedback utilized an Objective Structured Assessment of Technical Skills tool; performance was assessed by blinded raters via video.

Main Results:

• Peer-feedback demonstrated comparable performance to faculty-feedback for both surgical tasks (P=0.111).
• Significant improvements were observed in performance, task completion time, and integrity across both feedback groups.
• Both peer-feedback and faculty-feedback groups showed significant skill enhancement.

Conclusions:

• Structured peer-feedback is an effective and equivalent alternative to faculty-feedback for learning fundamental surgical skills.
• Peer-feedback empowers students with independent practice opportunities, facilitating skill acquisition.