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Speed and quality goals in procedural skills learning: A randomized experiment
David A Cook1,2, Becca L Gas3, V Shane Pankratz4
1Mayo Clinic Multidisciplinary Simulation Center, Mayo Clinic College of Medicine and Science, Rochester, MN, USA.
Medical Teacher
|October 10, 2019
Summary
Setting speed goals in surgical training improves efficiency but reduces product quality. Focusing on quality goals enhances ligature integrity. Combining both speed and quality goals may optimize learning for novices.
Area of Science:
- Medical Education
- Surgical Training
- Skill Acquisition
Background:
- Novice surgical trainees require effective learning strategies to master procedural tasks.
- The impact of goal-setting on performance speed versus product quality in surgical skills is not fully understood.
- Simulation-based training offers a controlled environment to study learning dynamics.
Purpose of the Study:
- To compare the effects of speed goals versus quality goals on surgical procedural task performance.
- To evaluate how different goal orientations influence both the time taken and the quality of surgical ligatures.
Main Methods:
- A randomized experiment involving secondary school students in a medical simulation.
- Participants performed eight repetitions of a simulated blood vessel ligation task.
- A speed goal or a quality goal was assigned between the fourth and fifth repetitions.
Main Results:
- The speed-goal group was 18% faster but produced fewer high-quality, leak-free ligatures compared to the quality-goal group.
- In the quality-goal group, leaky ligatures took longer to perform, unlike in the speed-goal group where times were similar.
- For equivalent performance times, the speed-goal group exhibited a higher rate of leaks.
Conclusions:
- Speed and quality goals induce distinct learning trajectories and outcomes in novice surgical trainees.
- Integrating both speed and quality objectives in training may lead to more comprehensive and efficient skill development.