Journal Article

Measuring Decision‐Making During Thyroidectomy: Validity Evidence for a Web‐Based Assessment Tool

Mitmaker, Elliot J., Benay, Cassandre, Pucher, Philip H., Madani, Amin, Tabah, Roger, Watanabe, Yusuke, Gornitsky, Jordan, Altieri, Maria S.

2018

Overview

Background Errors in judgment during thyroidectomy can lead to recurrent laryngeal nerve injury and other complications. Despite the strong link between patient outcomes and intraoperative decision-making, methods to evaluate these complex skills are lacking. The purpose of this study was to develop objective metrics to evaluate advanced cognitive skills during thyroidectomy and to obtain validity evidence for them. Methods An interactive online learning platform was developed ( www.thinklikeasurgeon.com ). Trainees and surgeons from four institutions completed a 33-item assessment, developed based on a cognitive task analysis and expert Delphi consensus. Sixteen items required subjects to make annotations on still frames of thyroidectomy videos, and accuracy scores were calculated based on an algorithm derived from experts’ responses (“visual concordance test,” VCT). Seven items were short answer (SA), requiring users to type their answers, and scores were automatically calculated based on their similarity to a pre-populated repertoire of correct responses. Test–retest reliability, internal consistency, and correlation of scores with self-reported experience and training level (novice, intermediate, expert) were calculated. Results Twenty-eight subjects (10 endocrine surgeons and otolaryngologists, 18 trainees) participated. There was high test–retest reliability (intraclass correlation coefficient = 0.96; n  = 10) and internal consistency (Cronbach’s α  = 0.93). The assessment demonstrated significant differences between novices, intermediates, and experts in total score ( p  < 0.01), VCT score ( p  < 0.01) and SA score ( p  < 0.01). There was high correlation between total case number and total score ( ρ  = 0.95, p  < 0.01), between total case number and VCT score ( ρ  = 0.93, p  < 0.01), and between total case number and SA score ( ρ  = 0.83, p  < 0.01). Conclusion This study describes the development of novel metrics and provides validity evidence for an interactive Web-based platform to objectively assess decision-making during thyroidectomy.

• Publisher: Wiley,Springer International Publishing,John Wiley & Sons, Inc
• Subject: Abdominal Surgery / Adult / Annotations / Cardiac Surgery / Clinical Competence / Cognition & reasoning / Cognitive ability / Complications / Consistency / Correlation analysis / Correlation coefficient / Correlation coefficients / Decision Making / Decision Making, Computer-Assisted / Decision Support Techniques / Distance learning / Female / General Surgery / Humans / Intermediates / Internet / Machine learning / Male / Mathematical analysis / Medical Errors - prevention & control / Medical personnel / Medicine / Medicine & Public Health / Middle Aged / Original Scientific Report / Reliability / Reproducibility of Results / Skills / Statistics, Nonparametric / Surgeons / Surgery / Task analysis / Thoracic Surgery / Thyroidectomy / Thyroidectomy - education / Thyroidectomy - methods / Training level / Vascular Surgery