ArticleWorld journal of surgery2019
Trends in Retention and Decay of Basic Surgical Skills: Evidence from Addis Ababa University, Ethiopia: A Prospective Case-Control Cohort Study.
Article in World journal of surgery, 2019. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 9 papers, 2 of them syntheses that pooled it.
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Who cites it
9 citing papers in PubMed, 2 syntheses or guidelines pooled it, 19 citations in OpenAlex.
- Gatekeeper training for suicide prevention: a systematic review and meta-analysis of randomized controlled trials.BMC public health · 2025Pooled it
- Suturing Skills for Medical Students: A Systematic Review.In vivo (Athens, Greece)Pooled it
- Surgery and technical skill decay.International journal of surgery (London, England) · 2025Review
- Self-assessment, and not continuous training, improves basic open suturing skills.Medical education online · 2024Article
- The Implementation of Simulation-Based Learning for Training Undergraduate Medical Students in Essential Surgical Care Across Sub-Saharan Africa: a Scoping Review.Medical science educator · 2024Article
- Objective assessment for open surgical suturing training by finger tracking can discriminate novices from experts.Medical education online · 2023Article
- Article
- See One, Do One, Forget One: Early Skill Decay After Paracentesis Training.Journal of general internal medicine · 2021Article
- Article
Corrections and comments
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Authors and funding
5 authors at 1 institution in 1 country.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
introductionWhile prior studies have evaluated surgical skills simulation and retention in highly resourced environments, there is paucity of data on the retention of surgical skills taught in simulation laboratory to undergraduate students, and virtually none from low-resource settings. We aimed to evaluate the trends in retention/decay of surgical skills among medical students in Ethiopia and determine whether regular intervention in the form of intermittent skills testing can aid retention.
methodsForty-four final year medical students were randomly divided into two cohorts of 22 students each. All 44 were trained in surgical instrument identification, simple interrupted suturing and one-handed knot tying. A previously validated, standardized assessment was performed before training, immediately after training, and then at 6 weeks, 3 months, 6 months and 1 year for cohort 1, and before training, immediately after training, and at 6 months and 1 year for cohort 2. All areas learned were tested for general decay.
resultsThe baseline mean scores of surgical skills were 3.8/30 for instrument identification, 3.3/15 for one-handed knot tying, and 1.35/15 for suturing. At the end of the training, mean scores improved to 26.6/30, 11.2/15 and 11.1/15 (instrument identification +599% and +772%, knot tying +447% and +417%, suturing +237% and +260%, respectively, for Cohort I and II). At 6 months and 1 year, there was a significant drop in all the three areas tested, especially in knot tying and suturing. There was no statistically significant difference between the two cohorts.
conclusionsWhile our surgical skills course is an effective means to teach surgical skills to medical students, there is significant decay in abilities after 6 months. Conducting regular assessments does not appear to have any effect in helping students retain these skills. We recommend such surgical skills training be conducted at appropriate intervals, such as just before internship, to prepare student for active surgical practice.
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