ORIGINAL RESEARCH 3108 DOWNLOADS

Resident self-assessment versus faculty assessment of laparoscopic technical skills using a global rating scale

Sarah E. Peyre1, Heather MacDonald2, Laila Al-Marayati2, Claire Templeman2 and Laila I. Muderspach2

1Department of Surgery, Brigham and Women's Hospital, Harvard Medical School, USA

2Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology, Los Angeles County Medical Center, University of Southern California, USA

Submitted: 08/04/2010; Accepted: 17/05/2010; Published: 28/05/2010

Int J Med Educ. 2010; 1:37-41; doi: 10.5116/ijme.4bf1.c3c1

© 2010 Sarah E. Peyre et al. This is an Open Access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License which permits unrestricted use of work provided the original work is properly cited. http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0

Objectives: Accurate self assessment of laparoscopic technical skill development can accelerate a trainee's learning growth and guide lifelong development for surgeons. The aim of this study was to measure the accuracy of obstetrical and gynecology resident self assessments as compared to faculty assessments of laparoscopic technical skill performance using a technical skill global rating scale evaluation.

Methods: 37 residents completed four laparoscopic procedures as part of a porcine simulation teaching laboratory: tubal ligation, ovarian cystectomy, salpingostomy and hysterectomy. At the conclusion of the session, residents and faculty completed global rating scale assessments for all laparoscopic procedures completed. Mann-Whitney U analysis was used to compare faculty and resident results.

Results: Overall residents self assessment was lower than faculty evaluation (148 cases). Post Graduate Year 1's (n=8/n=31 cases) reported significantly lower scores on 5 of 10 items. Post Graduate Year 2's (n=8/n=35 cases) reported significantly higher scores in 6 of 10 items. Post Graduate Year 3's (n=10/n=39 cases) reported lower scores on all ten items (p<0.05). Post Graduate Year 4's (n=11/n=43 cases) reported significantly lower scores in 9 of 10 items.

Conclusions: Residents are more critical of their performance than faculty when using a global rating scale during a laparoscopic simulation teaching session. Implications of inaccurate self perceptions can slow learning development of trainees. Further research is needed to examine the accuracy of resident self perceptions and faculty assessments of performance in the operating room.