Practice Makes Perfect: Team-Based Practice was the Key to Success for Massachusetts "Top Gun" Surgical Skills Competition
Nicholas Jonas, MD, Caroline Ricard, MD, Deanna Plewa, MD, Tasneem Zaihra, PhD, Dmitry Nepomnayshy, MD, FACS
Beth Israel Lahey Health, Burlington, MA
Background: Massachusetts hosts a yearly resident surgical skills competition. Our goal was twofold: determine preparation factors that improve performance and use a Non-Technical Skills for Surgeons (NOTSS) assessment to evaluate team performance.
Methods: Time and errors were recorded for four tasks from eight teams. Judges and residents performed a NOTSS assessment to grade teamwork, and residents completed a preparation survey. Results were analyzed using Spearman’s Rank Correlation and Welch’s T-test.
Results: Self-practice time had the strongest correlation with overall team rank (0.97 p<0.01). Six hours was the minimum self-practice time needed to place in the top three teams. Prior task knowledge and simulation lab access were correlated with overall rank (p<0.01). Ranks on all tasks were associated with overall rank (0.83-0.95 p<0.01). NOTSS self-assessment was correlated with overall rank (0.79, p=0.02), while NOTSS judge-assessment was not (0.25, p=0.56).
Conclusion: Preparation factors that correlated with overall performance included prior task knowledge, self-practice time (minimum six hours), and simulation lab access. The NOTSS self-assessment was predictive of overall performance. We concluded that residents who practiced more (and with their coresidents), inadvertently practiced teamwork skills in addition to technical skills. Further “Top Gun” research is needed to confirm these findings.
Back to 2022 Display Posters