Validation of Assessing Arthroscopic Skill using the ASSET Evaluation.

Area of Science:

• Orthopaedic Surgery
• Medical Education
• Surgical Skills Assessment

Background:

• The Accreditation Council for Graduate Medical Education and American Board of Orthopaedic Surgery utilize "milestones" for resident evaluation.
• Assessing resident progression in medical education requires validated tools.
• The study aimed to validate an evaluation tool against surgical experience and training progression.

Purpose of the Study:

• To determine if the Arthroscopic Surgical Skills Evaluation Tool (ASSET) correlates with resident surgical experience.
• To assess if ASSET scores correlate with a resident's year in training.
• To evaluate if ASSET demonstrates progression in resident performance over time.

Main Methods:

• Retrospective analysis of curriculum assessment data.
• Two blinded orthopedic surgeons evaluated resident performance on knee arthroscopy using ASSET.
• Residents underwent a structured arthroscopy curriculum and gained clinical experience over 3 years.

Main Results:

• ASSET scores showed a strong correlation with the number of arthroscopic procedures performed (r=0.946).
• ASSET scores also correlated significantly with the residents' year in training (r=0.89).
• Residents demonstrated significant improvement in ASSET scores after completing the arthroscopy curriculum (p < 0.01).

Conclusions:

• Resident performance on ASSET is validated by arthroscopic experience and training level.
• Performance on ASSET improves with additional years of training, demonstrating validity over time.
• ASSET is a suitable tool for assessing residents' technical proficiency per accreditation guidelines.