Centre for Research in Education, University Health Network, Division of Plastic Surgery, Department of Surgery, University of Toronto, Ontario, Canada.
The purpose of this study was to determine whether surgical residents could significantly improve their performance on a specific surgical procedure after a brief practice session with feedback. Attending plastic surgeons, using valid and reliable checklists and global rating scales, objectively assessed 37 junior surgical residents while performing two-flap Z-plasties on pig thighs (one before and one after a one-on-one, 5-minute practice session with feedback). The total cost per resident was $1.00 (Canadian currency). After the practice session, total checklist scores improved from 7.3 (range, 1 to 9) to 7.9 (range, 5 to 9), and the total global rating scores improved from 29.1 (range, 13 to 41) to 31.9 (range, 19 to 43). Paired Student's t tests revealed significant improvement in both the mean total checklist scores (p