Articles: medical-knowledge.
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Multicenter Study
Faculty Prediction of In-Training Examination Scores of Emergency Medicine Residents: A Multicenter Study.
The Emergency Medicine In-Training Examination (EMITE) is one of the few validated instruments for medical knowledge assessment of emergency medicine (EM) residents. The EMITE is administered only once annually, with results available just 2 months before the end of the academic year. An earlier predictor of EMITE scores would be helpful for educators to institute timely remediation plans. A previous single-site study found that only 69% of faculty predictions of EMITE scores were accurate. ⋯ In this multicenter study, EM faculty possessed only moderate accuracy at predicting resident EMITE scores. A very small subset of faculty members is highly accurate.
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Assessment of neurosurgical technical skills involved in the resection of cerebral tumors in operative environments is complex. Educators emphasize the need to develop and use objective and meaningful assessment tools that are reliable and valid for assessing trainees' progress in acquiring surgical skills. The purpose of this study was to develop proficiency performance benchmarks for a newly proposed set of objective measures (metrics) of neurosurgical technical skills performance during simulated brain tumor resection using a new virtual reality simulator (NeuroTouch). ⋯ This study furthers our understanding of expert neurosurgical performance during the resection of simulated virtual reality tumors and provides neurosurgical trainees with predefined proficiency performance benchmarks designed to maximize the learning of specific surgical technical skills.
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Self-directed learning (SDL) can be as effective as instructor-led training. It employs less instructional resources and is potentially a more efficient educational approach. Although SDL is encouraged among residents in our surgical training program via 24-hour access to surgical task trainers and online modules, residents report that they seldom practice. We hypothesized that a mentor-guided SDL approach would improve practice habits among our residents. ⋯ Mentor-guided SDL stimulated surgical residents to practice with greater frequency. This repeated deliberate practice led to significantly improved MIS skills without significantly increasing the need for faculty-led instruction. Some residents preferred more discrete goal setting and increased mentor guidance.
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To determine if a knot-tying checklist can provide a valid score and if the checklist can be used by novice surgeons in a reliable manner. ⋯ The knot-tying checklist provides a valid score for basic surgical knot-tying and can be used by novice and experienced raters. Its use supports peer assessment of performance in a surgical skills laboratory setting.
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Point-of-care ultrasound (POCUS) is a vital tool for diagnosis and management of critically ill patients, particularly in resource-limited settings where access to diagnostic imaging may be constrained. We aimed to develop a novel POCUS training curriculum for surgical practice in the United States and in resource-limited settings in low- and middle-income countries and to determine its effect on surgical resident self-assessments of efficacy and confidence. ⋯ After a POCUS course designed specifically for surgeons, surgical residents had improved self-efficacy and confidence levels across a broad range of skills.