Technical and Technological Skills Assessment in Laparoscopic Surgery

OBJECTIVES: Surgical appraisal and revalidation are key components of good surgical practice and training. Assessing technical skills in a structured manner is still not widely used. Laparoscopic surgery also requires the surgeon to be competent in technological aspects of the operation. METHODS: Checklists for generic, specific technical, and technological skills for laparoscopic cholecystectomies were constructed. Two surgeons with >12 years postgraduate surgical experience assessed each operation blindly and independently on DVD. The technological skills were assessed in the operating room. RESULTS: One hundred operations were analyzed. Eight trainees and 10 consultant surgeons were recruited. No adverse events occurred due to technical or technological skills. Mean interrater reliability was kappa=0.88, P=<0.05. Construct validity for both technical and technological skills between trainee and consultant surgeons were significant, Mann-Whitney P=<0.05. CONCLUSIONS: Our study demonstrates that technical and technological skills can be measured to assess performance of laparoscopic surgeons. This technical and technological assessment tool for laparoscopic surgery seems to have face, content, concurrent, and construct validities and could be modified and applied to any laparoscopic operation. The tool has the possibility of being used in surgical training and appraisal. We aim to modify and apply this tool to advanced laparoscopic operations.