Teaching simulated arthroscopic Bankart repair: residents’ assessment at the Annual Shoulder Course

This study’s aim was to evaluate the performance of senior orthopedic residents during simulated arthroscopic anterior stabilization (Bankart repair) before and after a national shoulder review course.

Participants were assessed before and after the Annual Shoulder Review Course over a 3-day period, using a multiple-choice examination and surgery performance assessment. The surgical evaluation was completed by fellowship-trained surgeons using a standardized procedure checklist and a global rating scale. All Canadian senior orthopedic residents were invited to participate in the course.

The 57 participants showed improvement following the course. The written knowledge evaluation mean score increased, and all 3 surgical performance measurements improved: surgical task time improved from 4:40 min to 2:53 min (p < 0.001), surgical technique evaluation increased from 56% to 67% after the procedure checklist (p < 0.001), and anchor placement improved for all 3 aspects. Anchor entry point was the sole measure not to improve enough to reach statistical significance (p = 0.37).

Our data support the inclusion of dry model surgical simulation as part of a surgical skills course for both training and assessment of orthopedic surgery residents.