Assessment of suturing performance using checklists: live versus video-based rating.

BACKGROUND: OSCE plays a leading role in education for undergraduates. Examination of 400 students per year generates a high demand of examiners. Our investigation aimed to clarify if the results given for a surgical task were comparable regardless if the procedure was observed directly by the examiner or videotaped and viewed later. METHODS: We examined the performance of students who were asked to suture a simulated and standardized skin lesion. Two final year students and two certified surgeons examined the students, rating them according to our scale. Additionally, the videotaped performance was viewed by two different surgeons and two different final year students and rated using the identical scale. RESULTS: 33 students were enrolled in the test. Comparison of surgeons‘ ratings of “live”- and “video”-taped performance showed a significant correlation (r=0,87; p<0,01) and a high agreement (88,2%). Correlation in students was comparable and reached significance (r=0,84; p<0,01). Agreement was almost as high as in surgeons (82.4%). CONCLUSIONS: Our results demonstrate that suturing a wound as a simple surgical task can be examined live or from tapes with comparable results. Therefore, presence of examiners to rate the performance in this specific workstation is unnecessary.