Purpose This study aimed to perform a comprehensive review of publications proposing educational programs for resident skills assessment in corneal suturing.
Methods An extensive online article search in PubMed following the Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses (PISMA) reporting guidelines was performed to identify prospective comparative studies or prospective before/after studies published up to March 2021 and reporting the assessment of ophthalmology residents' skills in corneal suturing during dedicated training sessions.
Results Three studies were identified for review. The first reported the efficiency of an electromagnetic tracking system placed on the surgeon's fingers coupled with a computer analysis of movements and time to identify surgeons with different backgrounds in corneal suturing. The second reported the efficiency of the reference system in assessing the improvement of corneal suturing conducted by residents after a training session, with video-based assessment for economy and confidence of movement, limiting tissue damage and precision of operative technique, reviewed by blind assessors. The third proposed an innovative remote corneal suturing training method using Zoom for direct feedback to the residents. The stitch quality was assessed for length, depth, radiality, and tension. The results were similar when compared with a group of residents without feedback.
Conclusion This review underlines the rarity and disparity of available tools for corneal suturing assessment, justifying the need for more complete models to be designed. These should consider body ergonomics and stitch quality and time. Comparative studies involving novices and attendings may provide reliable evaluation of existing gaps and specific metrics to target, helping residents to approach their superiors' experience.
This study aimed to evaluate the efficiency of a multiple metrics assessment method to differentiate between surgeons of differing experience while performing a corneal suturing task. Volunteer ophthalmologists were assigned to three groups (senior [SG], junior [JG] and novice [NG]) according to their experience in corneal suturing. All participants performed three sessions of corneal wound closure by three stitches. Suturing and participant posture were recorded with cameras, and assessed by two blind assessors for stitch quality (using Zhang score) and ergonomics (using Rapid Upper Limb Assessment [RULA] score). Task duration was recorded. Objective analyses of stitches geometry and instrument position were carried out. We included 24 participants: 5 in the SG, 8 in the JG and 11 in the NG. Stitch quality was significantly better and time to perform the procedure significantly lower in more experienced groups (p < 0.001 and p = 0.002, respectively). SG participants better respected regular distance and parallelism between stitches compared to others (p = 0.01). Instrument position was similar between groups, although SG participants minimized their back-and-forth movements compared to NG participants. Ergonomics assessment was similar. Multiple metrics assessment efficiently determined how to differentiate between novices and experienced surgeons on corneal suturing skills, providing hints for future training studies.
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