Development and Evaluation of a Surgical Direct Assessment Tool for Resident Training

Area of Science:

• Podiatric Medicine and Surgery
• Medical Education
• Surgical Training Assessment

Background:

• Current podiatric residency training relies on minimum activity volume numbers to gauge surgical competency.
• A need exists for more comprehensive assessment tools beyond mere procedure counts.

Purpose of the Study:

• To develop and evaluate a standardized direct assessment form for podiatric residents.
• To complement existing minimum activity volume requirements in residency training.

Main Methods:

• Six podiatric medicine and surgery residents were evaluated by 16 attending physicians.
• 121 standardized direct assessment forms were completed, focusing on surgical competency.
• Resident feedback was collected on the utility of the assessment tool.

Main Results:

• Assessment scores demonstrated a strong correlation with the residents' year of training.
• Residents found the direct assessment form, particularly the open-response section, to be highly beneficial.
• The developed tool showed potential for improving surgical skill evaluation.

Conclusions:

• Standardized, competency-based direct assessment is a valuable addition to podiatric residency training.
• This approach offers a more nuanced evaluation of surgical competency than volume numbers alone.
• Further refinement could enhance the impact of direct assessment in surgical education.