Teaching and Assessing Surgical Competence

Abstract

Surgical competence and its assessment is one of the most hotly debated topics engaging the profession. In the current climate of diminishing working hours and shorter training, the surgical profession is having to address the complex issue as to how surgery as a craft specialty should be taught, and how to assess when an individual is competent within their chosen sphere as well as how that competence should be maintained. Internationally, there is political pressure upon the professional to achieve contracted activity to comply with political imperatives and, at the same time, to achieve a greater degree of specialisation. Within Europe, the working time directive has led to a shift system of rotas and this, along with a shorter overall period of training, has led to reduced time available to surgical trainees in which to learn their craft.

Assessing Technical Competence in Surgical Trainees

“…There have emerged various terminology domains that incorporate within them an assessment of technical competence. [119][120][121][122][123][124][125] These include technical competence, 124,125 surgical competence, [119][120][121] and operative competence. 122,123 Multiple publications use these terms interchangeably; however, after further review, it was determined that they have different working definitions.…”

“…[119][120][121][122][123][124][125] These include technical competence, 124,125 surgical competence, [119][120][121] and operative competence. 122,123 Multiple publications use these terms interchangeably; however, after further review, it was determined that they have different working definitions. [119][120][121][122][123][124][125] Although poorly defined, technical competence is often used as a synonym for technical skill.…”

Construct validity of the ProMIS laparoscopic simulator

“…Only longitudinal studies will determine whether such tools can predict future clinical performance [45].…”

Perspectives on Intraoperative Teaching: Divergence and Convergence Between Learner and Teacher

“…With this knowledge as a foundation, the survey instrument was designed in collaboration with recognized educators in the Shapiro Center for Medical Education at BIDMC, after completing an extensive review of the literature. [2][3][4][5][6][7][8][9][10][11][12][13][14][15][16][17][18] Further refinement occurred after input was sought from 3 recognized surgical educators external to our institution. The survey was then piloted with a small group of residents to identify any problems with question wording and/or interpretation of the items.…”