Assessing the Surgical Decision Making Abilities of Novice and Proficient Urologists

Abstract

The Surgical Decision Making Rating Scale can reliably detect differences in knowledge and surgical judgment among medical students, urology residents and staff urologists. This tool has potential applications for evaluating trainees and determining subjects with proficient decision making abilities. It also shows a significant correlation between self-rated performance and blinded evaluation.

Evaluating the Clinical Reasoning of Student Health Professionals in Placement and Simulation Settings: A Systematic Review

“…However, inconsistencies in agreement about the underpinning conceptual framework for clinical reasoning were evident. Further, for 11 evaluation tools adopted for medical and nursing students, no framework was specified [ 59 , 60 , 61 , 62 , 63 , 64 , 65 , 66 , 67 , 68 , 69 ]. Many of these evaluation tools were described as rubrics, examinations, and objective structured clinical examinations (OSCEs), and the authors did not clearly define the construct being assessed as one of critical thinking, clinical judgement, clinical decision making, or clinical reasoning.…”

The Impact of Perceived Frailty on Surgeons' Estimates of Surgical Risk

“…Judgment about the appropriateness of surgery or its anticipated outcomes is influenced by a variety of factors, some of which are surgeon-related, including training level, recent adverse patient outcomes, and prioritization of risk vs benefit [1–4]. Major complications after lung resection lead to increased length of hospitalization and increased costs [5,6].…”

Non-technical Skill Assessment Tools for Surgical Team Members in the Operating Room: A Critical Review

“…According to the results of this study, six of the abovementioned tools were developed under the supervision of Dr. Rhona Flin, a professor in the School of Psychology, the University of Aberdeen, which is considered one of the strengths of the development process of these tools due to the attention to the psychometric aspects of the tools (3,27,32,35,37). Five of these tools were developed in Scotland (3,27,32,35,37), one in Denmark (31), one in Germany (36), two in Canada (29,34), and five in the UK (26,30,31,33,35), which can limit their generalizability, given the different context of operating rooms in developed and developing countries, particularly since a job analysis was used in the process of development of these tools, which reduces their generalizability. The reason is that, for example, in some countries, scrub nurses are operating room technologists who perform the same duties as an assistant surgeon in the surgical team; also, the role of anesthesia nurses differs widely in different countries.…”

“…As discussed in the previous sections, the majority of the NTS assessment tools for surgical and anesthesia team members in the operating room have considered some cognitive, behavioral, and attitudinal skills to-gether, with the most prominent being situation awareness, communication and teamwork, leadership and management, decision-making, and problem-solving. Nevertheless, some researchers have only discussed the assessment of one of these skills and have developed tools consistent with the given skill, including SDM-RS, which only assesses surgeons' decision-making skills (29), or SLI, which assesses management skills under subjects such as maintaining standards, managing resources, making decisions, directing, training, supporting others, communicating, and coping with pressure (32). Although focusing on only one competency can enable a more valid assessment, due to the key role and effectiveness of other aspects of NTS, including communication and situation awareness skills, in decision-making, tools that assess these skills together seem to have a greater validity in determining surgeons' competence.…”