Evaluating the effectiveness of a 2-year curriculum in a surgical skills center

Background This study was a formative evaluation of a 2-year Surgical Skills Center Curriculum (SSCC) using objective measures of surgical performance and self-reported process-oriented evaluations. Methods Fifty postgraduate third-year (PGY-3) residents participated in an Objective Structured Assessment of Technical Skills (OSATS) examination. Nineteen residents underwent the SSCC and 31 residents did not. During the SSCC, self-reported student and faculty evaluations were completed after each session. Results For the OSATS examination, scores were not significantly different between treatment and control groups, on either the checklist (66.4 ± 6.1 versus 64.1 ± 10.8) or global rating scale scores (66.9 ± 6.9 versus 68.0 ± 9.6). Further comparisons between groups on individual OSATS stations revealed no significant differences between groups. The majority of student and faculty evaluation remarks were highly positive. Conclusions The OSATS results failed to support our hypothesis that training on a core procedure in a single session during a SSCC would have an appreciable and sustained effect after 2 years. Self-reported process-oriented evaluations support the utility of our SSCC.