Next generation of procedural skills curriculum development: proficiency?based progression

ABSTRACT

Background: Until recently training, assessment and certification of technical procedural skills [surgical and other interventional procedures] has been a matter of subjective evaluation by a faculty or senior peer. A few new technical skills courses have begun quantifying surgical performance, however none have required benchmark scores that must be met to guarantee proficiency. Based on nearly 100 years of technical skills simulation in other high-risk sectors [aviation, military, nuclear industry, etc.], a new, comprehensive procedural skills curriculum development process, entitled 'full life-cycle curriculum development' and which uses the principles of proficiency-based progression, has been developed and implemented for the Fundamentals of Robotic Surgery [FRS] curriculum - a simulation course for technical skills with quantitative metrics