The Development of Assessment Tools for Plastic Surgery Competencies

Background Objective tools to assess procedural skills in plastic surgery residency training are currently lacking. There is an increasing need to address this deficit in order to meet today's training standards in North America. Objectives The purpose of this pilot study was to establish a methodology for determining the essential procedural steps for two plastic surgery procedures to assist resident training and assessment. Methods Following a literature review and needs assessment of resident training, the authors purposefully selected two procedures lacking robust assessment metrics (breast augmentation and facelift) and used a consensus process to complete a list of procedural steps for each. Using an online survey, plastic surgery Program Directors, Division Chiefs, and the Royal College Specialty Training Committee members in Canada were asked to indicate whether each step was considered essential or non-essential when assessing competence among graduating plastic surgery trainees. The Delphi methodology was used to obtain consensus among the panel. Panelist reliability was measured using Cronbach's alpha. Results A total of 17 steps for breast augmentation and 24 steps for facelift were deemed essential by consensus (Cronbach's alpha 0.87 and 0.85, respectively). Conclusion Using the aforementioned technique, the essential procedural steps for two plastic surgery procedures were determined. Further work is required to develop assessment instruments based on these steps and to gather validity evidence in support of their use in surgical education.