Trainees' perspectives on the assessment and self‐assessment of surgical skills

Abstract

Self‐assessment is argued to be valuable educationally and is being advocated through policies for wider adoption within medical practice. However, students are often reluctant to self‐assess and little research has examined the reasons for this. This study explored the perceptions of trainees and postgraduates on assessment and self‐assessment of surgical skills. Data were collected through semi‐structured interviews conducted with six trainees and postgraduate students in Oral Surgery. They had previously been assessed, and self‐assessed themselves for the first time, while surgically removing a mandibular third molar tooth. Assessments were judged against both an objective checklist scale and a global rating scale. Eight themes were identified and trainees’ comments on these themes analysed. The themes identified were assessment and stress, pressure to over‐ or under‐score, the impact of self‐assessment on learning, reflection and performance, confidence and the necessity of preparation, acceptability of the scales and criteria used, feedback, and the acceptability of self‐assessment. In conclusion we need to instil in our trainees a culture whereby they feel capable of and comfortable making judgements about their own performance and giving and receiving constructive assessment from their peers.

Acknowledgements

Ann Evans is supported by The Health Foundation. This work was undertaken by the authors with University College London and University College London Hospitals who received a proportion of the funding from the NHS Executive; the views expressed in this publication are those of the authors and are not necessarily those of the University, Trust or NHS Executive. We would like to thank one of our anonymous reviewers for the suggestions about professional socialisation.

Notes

* Corresponding author. Department of Oral and Maxillofacial Surgery, Eastman Dental Institute for Oral Health Care Sciences, University College London, 256 Grays Inn Road, London, WC1X 8LD, UK. Email: [email protected]