Learning to teach: A novel method for assessing surgical trainees' teaching and operative knowledge

Area of Science:

• Medical Education
• Surgical Training
• Assessment Methods

Background:

• Surgical training requires robust assessment of both operative skills and teaching abilities.
• Traditional assessment methods may not fully capture the nuances of surgical expertise and mentorship.

Purpose of the Study:

• To evaluate the feasibility of using a simulated teaching activity to assess surgical knowledge.
• To determine the effectiveness of this simulation in evaluating teaching competencies among surgical trainees.

Main Methods:

• A prospective observational study involving 15 surgical residents and 1 fellow.
• Participants provided feedback on laparoscopic cholecystectomy video clips to a learner.
• Qualitative and statistical analyses were employed to compare feedback and identify differences.

Main Results:

• Junior trainees focused more on speculating about the learner's actions and thoughts.
• Senior trainees more frequently identified case difficulty and speculated about the learner's emotions.
• Significant differences were observed in the feedback strategies between junior and senior trainees (p < 0.05).

Conclusions:

• A simulated teaching scenario is a feasible and effective method for assessing surgical operative and teaching competencies.
• This approach offers a novel and valuable tool for surgical education and assessment.