Construct validity of a low-cost medium-fidelity endoscopic sinus surgery simulation model

Abstract

Objective: Assess construct validity of a low-cost medium-fidelity silicone injection molded model task trainer for endoscopic sinus surgery (ESS) training.

Methods: Fellowship-trained rhinologists, otolaryngology attendings, and otolaryngology residents at various levels of training performed sinus endoscopy and seven procedures on the model. Construct validity was evaluated by comparing novice to various levels of experienced performance using a validated checklist.

Results: Thirty-two subjects participated in this study. Otolaryngology attendings and postgraduate year (PGY) 3 to 5 otolaryngology residents significantly outperformed PGY 1 to 2 otolaryngology residents on most tasks in the task-specific checklist.

Conclusions: This study demonstrated the construct validity of the low-cost medium-fidelity ESS model.

Level of evidence: NA Laryngoscope, 129:1505-1509, 2019.

Keywords: Endoscopic sinus surgery; model task trainer; resident education; simulation; three-dimensional printing; validation.