To develop and evaluate an assessment tool for endourological skills during simulation including cystoscopy, ureteroscopy and transurethral resection procedures.
We designed a Global Assessment of Urological Endoscopic Skills (GAUES) tool with a 9-point endourology task-specific skills and 2-point global rating skills. The tool was developed through two rounds of the Delphi process. The GAUES tool was used to assess acquisition of ureteroscopic and transurethral resection (TUR) skills of novices (Year 2 core surgical trainees, CT2) and intermediate level trainees (residents at the start of the UK higher surgical training programme in Urology , Speciality Trainee Year 3, ST3) at the Urology Simulation Boot camp (USBC) between 2016-2018. Validity was evaluated by comparing scores between trainees with different levels of urological experience. Interrater reliability was also assessed.
We evaluated 130 residents, 52% of trainees were at intermediate stage of training and 39% were novices. Nine percent of the anonymous forms were missing demographics. The completion rate of the GAUES tool during the USBC for ureteroscopy and TUR was 85% and 89% respectively. Our analysis demonstrated a significant difference in all domains between intermediates and novices at assessment in ureteroscopy, except for one domain more suited to clinical assessment (p=0.226). There was excellent intraclass correlation overall between the two experts' judgements, ICC = .841 (p < .0001, 95% CI: 0.767, 0.893, n=88).
We have developed a novel assessment tool for cystoscopic, ureteroscopic and transurethral resection skills. Overall, we demonstrated good face, content and construct validity and excellent reliability, suggesting that the tool can be useful for endourological skills assessment.
BJU international. 2020 Sep 25 [Epub ahead of print]
Chandra Shekhar Biyani, Mithun Kailavasan, Nicholas Rukin, Victor Palit, Bhaskar Somani, Sunjay Jain, Andy Myatt, Ghulam Nabi, Jake Patterson
St James's University Hospital, Leeds., Leicester City Hospital, Leicester., Redcliff Hospital, University of Queensland, Australia., University Hospital Southampton NHS Foundation Trust., Hull and East Yorkshire NHS Trust, Hull., Ninewells Hospital, University of Dundee, Scotland, UK., Sheffield Teaching Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust, Sheffield.