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A Competency Assessment Tool for Unilateral Cleft Lip Repair
Carolyn R Rogers-Vizena1,2, Georgios D Sideridis2,3, Krishna G Patel4
1Department of Plastic and Oral Surgery, Boston Children's Hospital, Boston, Mass.
Plastic and Reconstructive Surgery. Global Open
|August 18, 2020
Summary
A new evaluation tool was developed for unilateral cleft lip repair, regardless of surgical technique. This tool demonstrates good reliability for assessing surgical skills and outcomes in trainees.
Area of Science:
- Plastic Surgery
- Surgical Education
- Medical Device Development
Background:
- Objective evaluation of surgical performance is crucial for training.
- Existing tools struggle with the diverse techniques in unilateral cleft lip repair.
- A technique-agnostic evaluation method is needed.
Purpose of the Study:
- To develop a universal evaluation tool for unilateral cleft lip repair.
- To create a checklist that is independent of specific surgical techniques.
- To improve objective assessment in surgical training.
Main Methods:
- A 3-round Delphi process involving 4 expert surgeons was used.
- Consensus evaluation points were generated across 3 common repair techniques.
- A novel 21-item checklist was compared against the modified Objective Structured Assessment of Technical Skills using video analysis.
Main Results:
- The novel tool achieved moderate to substantial interrater reliability (κ = 0.41-0.80) for most items.
- One item showed almost perfect agreement (κ = 0.81-1.00).
- The tool was refined to an 18-item version after discarding poorly performing questions.
Conclusions:
- Common themes in unilateral cleft lip repair allow for universal performance assessment.
- This technique-agnostic tool can enhance trainee assessment and surgeon credentialing.
- The tool has potential applications in screening for surgical missions.
