A curriculum for Burch colposuspension and diagnostic cystoscopy evaluated by an objective structured assessment of technical skills

Abstract

Objective: The purpose of this study was to develop an effective curriculum for teaching colposuspension and diagnostic cystoscopy.

Study design: Fifty-five residents underwent an Objective Structured Assessment of Technical Skills that was composed of a task-specific checklist and validated global assessment. Thirty of the residents had been exposed to a training curriculum, and 25 residents served as untrained control subjects.

Results: For the colposuspension and cystoscopy checklists, the reliability coefficient was 0.85 and 0.72, and the interrater reliability was 0.92 and 0.68, respectively. Although residents who were provided the curriculum performed better on both task-specific checklists, the differences did not reach statistical significance. Senior residents performed consistently better than junior residents for both tasks. When a comparison was made of the junior residents separately to account for previous experience, trained residents performed significantly better on the cystoscopy checklist (P = .029).

Conclusion: This curriculum is an effective way to teach diagnostic cystoscopy to junior residents. The checklist for this Objective Structured Assessment of Technical Skills has good reliability and construct validity.