How can surgical training benefit from theories of skilled motor development, musical skill acquisition and performance psychology? (original) (raw)
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Teaching Surgical Skills — Changes in the Wind
New England Journal of Medicine, 2006
S ir william halsted introduced a german-style residency training system with an emphasis on graded responsibility at Johns Hopkins Hospital in 1889. 1 This system remains the cornerstone of surgical training in North America more than a century later. However, advances in educational theory, as well as mounting pressures in the clinical environment, have led to questions about the reliance on this approach to teaching technical skills.
Redefining Surgical Skill Acquisition
Medical Education for the 21st Century [Working Title], 2021
There have been reduced opportunities for surgical skill acquisition due to the COVID-19 pandemic and the regulated training hours. Despite these challenges, self-regulated learning allows trainees to learn continuously, and motor skills development can be augmented through mental practice and motor imagery. The aim of this chapter is to introduce the theoretical concepts in skill acquisition and the role of mental and deliberate practice as an alternative for skill training. A case study is presented using a design and development framework for producing an online basic micro suturing training resource based on self-regulated learning. This case study demonstrates the use of the ADDIE instructional design model and Mayer’s multimedia theory guidelines, for creating online instructional resources. The methodological approach of a design and developmental framework to create an educationally sound online training module for micro suturing which has significant utility in hand surgery...
Teaching Technical Skills to Surgical Residents
Clinical Orthopaedics and Related Research, 2006
We review a series of empirical studies on the use of simulators and bench models in training technical skills and subsequent retention of those skills. We discuss recent research on the transfer of training from bench models and simulators to the clinical setting and provide a theoretical structure to organize the findings. The transfer of training from inanimate bench models and simulators to live patients has recently been demonstrated in a number of areas. The effectiveness of this training is enhanced if focus is placed on the operative, or process-oriented, aspects of the procedure, with suspension of disbelief regarding the physical structure of the training platform. The retention of trained skills is an area of research only beginning to evolve, with recent results suggesting that effective retention can be demonstrated if training is tightly focused and involves an entire procedure. An emerging area of research involves the use of simulators as assessment instruments for high-stakes testing, and recent results involving simulated trauma management support this novel application. Based on these findings, we encourage the use of a wide variety of high-and low-fidelity platforms, with emphasis on training procedural knowledge involving an entire procedure.
Practice does not always make perfect: need for selection curricula in modern surgical training
Surgical Endoscopy, 2017
Background It is hypothesized that not all surgical trainees are able to reach technical competence despite ongoing practice. The objectives of the study were to assess a trainees' ability to reach technical competence by assessing learning patterns of the acquisition of surgical skills. Furthermore, it aims to determine whether individuals' learning patterns were consistent across a range of open and laparoscopic tasks of variable difficulty. Methods Sixty-five preclinical medical students participated in a training curriculum with standardized feedback over forty repetitions of the following laparoscopic and open technical tasks: peg transfer (PT), circle cutting (CC), intracorporeal knot tie (IKT), one-handed tie, and simulated laparotomy closure. Data mining techniques were used to analyze the prospectively collected data and stratify the students into four learning clusters. Performance was compared between groups, and learning curve characteristics unique to trainees who have difficulty reaching technical competence were quantified. Results Top performers (22-35%) and high performers (32-42%) reached proficiency in all tasks. Moderate performers (25-37%) reached proficiency for all open tasks but not all laparoscopic tasks. Low performers (8-15%) failed to reach proficiency in four of five tasks including all laparoscopic tasks (PT 7.8%; CC 9.4%; IKT 15.6%). Participants in lower performance clusters demonstrated sustained performance disadvantage across tasks, with widely variable learning curves and no evidence of progression towards a plateau phase. Conclusions Most students reached proficiency across a range of surgical tasks, but low-performing trainees failed to reach competence in laparoscopic tasks. With increasing use of laparoscopy in surgical practice, screening potential candidates to identify the lowest performers may be beneficial. Keywords Selection Á Technical skills Á Competence Á Surgical trainees Á Simulation training Á Learning curves Emerging evidence suggests that trainees acquire technical skills at variable rates, with a subset of students unable to reach competence [1-4]. Recent studies propose that 5-17% of trainees have an innate technical ability that allows them to rapidly acquire skills, achieving competence with minimal practice or effort [1, 3] In contrast, most trainees (63-70%) are moderate performers [1, 3]. They improve with practice, ultimately reaching a level of technical competence that is acceptable and safe. However, studies have also identified a smaller subgroup of trainees (8-20%) who struggle to learn technical skills and fail to reach competence even with continued practice (low performers) [1, 3]. Given that technical skill is a requirement for a successful surgical career, identifying these individuals early may benefit both prospective trainees and surgical programs. This is an original article, with no communication to a society or meeting.
Journal of Surgical Education, 2008
To determine whether LapSim training (version 3.0; Surgical Science Ltd, Göteborg, Sweden) to criteria for novice PGY1 surgical residents had predictive validity for improvement in the performance of laparoscopic cholecystectomy. METHODS: In all, 21 PGY1 residents performed laparoscopic cholecystectomies in pigs after minimal training; their performance was evaluated by skilled laparoscopic surgeons using the validated tool GOALS (global operative assessment of laparoscopic operative skills: depth perception, bimanual dexterity, efficiency, tissue handling, and overall competence). From the group, 10 residents trained to competency on the LapSim Basic Skills Programs (camera navigation, instrument navigation, coordination, grasping, lifting and grasping, cutting, and clip applying). All 21 PGY1 residents again performed laparoscopic cholecystectomies on pigs; their performance was again evaluated by skilled laparoscopic surgeons using GOALS. Additionally, we studied the rate of learning to determine whether the slow or fast learners on the LapSim performed equivalently when performing actual cholecystectomies in pigs. Finally, 6 categorical residents were tracked, and their clinical performance on all of the laparoscopic cholecystectomies in which they were "surgeon, junior" was prospectively evaluated using the GOALS criteria. RESULTS: We found a statistical improvement of depth perception in the operative performance of cholecystectomies in pigs in the group trained on the LapSim. In the other 4 domains, a trend toward improvement was observed. No correlation between being a fast learner and the ultimate skill was demonstrated in the clinical performance of laparoscopic cholecystectomies. We did find that the fast learners on LapSim all were past or current video game players ("gamers"); however, that background did not translate into better clinical performance. CONCLUSIONS: Using current criteria, we doubt that the time and effort spent training novice PGY1 Surgical Residents on the basic LapSim training programs is justified, as such training to competence lacks predictive validity in most domains of the GOALS program. We are investigating 2 other approaches: more difficult training exercises using the LapSim system and an entirely different approach using haptic technology (ProMis; Haptica Ltd., Ireland), which uses real instruments, with training on realistic 3-dimensional models with real rather than simulated cutting, sewing, and dissection. Although experienced video gamers achieve competency faster than nongamers on LapSim programs, that skill set does not translate into improved clinical performance. (
1999
The effect of modeling a simple surgical task on the subsequent performance of preclinical medical students was investigated. Groups of students read a verbal description of the excision of a skin lesion and closure of the resulting wound. Subsequently, groups watched zero, one, or four videotapes in which expert surgeons demonstrated the task. Finally, students had to perform the task themselves four times. During the performances, students were rated by operating room nurses using a checklist and a global rating scale of surgical performance. Time to perform the task was also recorded. In general, the results showed significant effects of experimental condition and trial number: Subjects who watched either one or four models demonstrated similar performance and performed better than subjects who did not watch any model. Later trials showed better accomplishments than earlier trials, both in terms of the quality of the surgery and speed. For some measures, significant interaction effects were found, suggesting that the advantages of watching a model are reinforced, rather than weakened, by practical experience with the task. The results are discussed with respect to the literature on modeling of motor skill tasks and the practical implications for surgical education.
Teaching Surgical Skills: What Kind of Practice Makes Perfect?
Transactions of the ... Meeting of the American Surgical Association, 2006
Objective: Surgical skills laboratories have become an important venue for early skill acquisition. The principles that govern training in this novel educational environment remain largely unknown; the commonest method of training, especially for continuing medical education (CME), is a single multihour event. This study addresses the impact of an alternative method, where learning is distributed over a number of training sessions. The acquisition and transfer of a new skill to a life-like model is assessed. Methods: Thirty-eight junior surgical residents, randomly assigned to either massed (1 day) or distributed (weekly) practice regimens, were taught a new skill (microvascular anastomosis). Each group spent the same amount of time in practice. Performance was assessed pretraining, immediately post-training, and 1 month posttraining. The ultimate test of anastomotic skill was assessed with a transfer test to a live, anesthetized rat. Previously validated computerbased and expert-based outcome measures were used. In addition, clinically relevant outcomes were assessed. Results: Both groups showed immediate improvement in performance, but the distributed group performed significantly better on the retention test in most outcome measures (time, number of hand movements, and expert global ratings; all P values Ͻ0.05). The distributed group also outperformed the massed group on the live rat anastomosis in all expert-based measures (global ratings, checklist score, final product analysis, competency for OR; all P values Ͻ0.05). Conclusions: Our current model of training surgical skills using short courses (for both CME and structured residency curricula) may be suboptimal. Residents retain and transfer skills better if taught in a distributed manner. Despite the greater logistical challenge, we need to restructure training schedules to allow for distributed practice.
Surgical skills training: simulation and multimedia combined
Medical Education, 2001
Context Basic surgical skills are needed throughout the medical profession, but current training is haphazard and unpredictable. There is increasing pressure to provide transparency about training and performance standards. There is a clear need for inexperienced learners to build a framework of basic skills before carrying out surgical procedures on patients. Effective learning of a skill requires sustained deliberate practice within a cognitive framework, and simulation offers an opportunity for safe preparation.