Validation of the FAST Workstation as an Objective Evaluator of Hand-Tied Surgical Knots

Hand-tying surgical knots is an important skill that is applicable across all surgical disciplines. Knot quality is traditionally assessed in the operating room by visual inspection, which is inherently subjective. With the increasing prevalence of simulation training, surgical trainees having access to objective feedback of their knot-tying skills are paramount for skill evaluation. Our study aimed to validate a mechanical suture loop security tester as an objective evaluation method of hand-tied surgical knot quality.

Seventy-three subjects were recruited and categorized based on surgical expertise into one of the following three groups: medical students, surgical residents, and attending surgeons. They hand-tied five surgical knots consecutively using 0 Vicryl sutures. The knots were tested using the suture loop security workstation with 10 lbs of linear force for 10 seconds. Success of the suture loop was set at less than 3 mm of loop expansion. This protocol was based on previous research showing that 3 mm of loop expansion would represent clinical failure of the knot in vivo.

The students, residents, and attending surgeons tied a median of two, three, and four successful knots, respectively. Post hoc pairwise comparisons revealed that residents tied more successful knots than students (p < 0.001), and attending physicians tied more successful knots than students (p < 0.001). However, there was no statistically significant difference in the number of successes between residents and attending physicians (p = 0.24).

Using the mechanical loop security workstation demonstrates construct validity as a reliable objective evaluation tool of hand-tied surgical knots.