Association for surgical educationA role for error training in surgical technical skill instruction and evaluation☆
Section snippets
Methods
Approval was obtained from the IRB at the Medical College of Georgia. Initially, a task analysis was done by evaluating the videotapes of subjects performing the skill of tying a two-handed square knot. These were performances that had taken place in the context of other studies that were designed to evaluate the effect of various forms of instruction on skill performance [11], [12], [13]. From these videotaped performances, two different training videotapes were created. The “error training”
Task analysis
A total of 306 instances of an error were observed in 260 performances. In 70 of the performances no major error was identified and in 84 of the performances multiple errors were identified. Eleven error types were identified with four of the errors accounting for 75% of the total. These four most frequent errors included the following (with frequency listed in parentheses); too much motion in right hand (38%), failure to maintain consistent tension throughout the formation of the knot (17%),
Comments
We were interested in examining the effect of error training on subject performance of the task. The concept that individuals use errors in the acquisition of motor skills appears well established although the theories of how this occurs are not [15]. There are examples, in the surgical literature where the description of errors is used for the instruction of surgical technique [16], [17]. These are usually descriptions of errors that occur at the level of operative procedure and can involve
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Funded by a Grant from the Association for Surgical Education Foundation.