Association for Surgical Education Comparison of resident self-assessments with trained faculty and standardized patient assessments of clinical and technical skills in a structured educational module

Background: This study assessed the reliability of surgical resident self-assessment in comparison with faculty and standardized patient (SP) assessments during a structured educational module focused on perioperative management of a simulated adverse event. Methods: Seven general surgery residents participated in this module. Residents were assessed during videotaped preoperative and postoperative SP encounters and when dissecting a tumor off of a standardized inanimate vena cava model in a simulated operating room. Results: Preoperative and postoperative assessments by SPs correlated significantly (P .05) with faculty assessments (r .75 and r .79, respectively), but not resident self-assessments. Coefficient alpha was greater than .70 for all assessments except resident preoperative self-assessments. Conclusions: Faculty and SP assessments can provide reliable data useful for formative feedback. Although resident self-assessment may be useful for the formative assessment of technical skills, results suggest that in the absence of training, residents are not reliable self-assessors of preoperative and postoperative interactions with SPs. © 2008 Excerpta Medica Inc. All rights reserved.