TY - JOUR
T1 - Avoiding Surgical Skill Decay
T2 - A Systematic Review on the Spacing of Training Sessions
AU - Cecilio-Fernandes, Dario
AU - Cnossen, Fokie
AU - Jaarsma, Debbie A.D.C.
AU - Tio, René A.
N1 - Funding Information:
This work was supported by CAPES – Brazilian Federal Agency for Support and Evaluation of Graduate Education—Grant 9568-13-1 awarded to Dario Cecilio-Fernandes.
Publisher Copyright:
© 2017 Association of Program Directors in Surgery
PY - 2018/3/1
Y1 - 2018/3/1
N2 - Objective: Spreading training sessions over time instead of training in just 1 session leads to an improvement of long-term retention for factual knowledge. However, it is not clear whether this would also apply to surgical skills. Thus, we performed a systematic review to find out whether spacing training sessions would also improve long-term retention of surgical skills. Design: We searched the Medline, PsycINFO, Embase, Eric, and Web of Science online databases. We only included articles that were randomized trials with a sample of medical trainees acquiring surgical motor skills in which the spacing effect was reported. The quality and bias of the articles were assessed using the Cochrane Collaboration's risk of bias assessment tool. Results: With respect to the spacing effect, 1955 articles were retrieved. After removing duplicates and articles that did not meet the inclusion criteria, 11 articles remained. The overall quality of the experiments was “moderate.” Trainees in the spaced condition scored higher in a retention test than students in the massed condition. Conclusions: Our systematic review showed evidence that spacing training sessions improves long-term surgical skills retention when compared to massed practice. However, the optimal gap between the re-study sessions is unclear.
AB - Objective: Spreading training sessions over time instead of training in just 1 session leads to an improvement of long-term retention for factual knowledge. However, it is not clear whether this would also apply to surgical skills. Thus, we performed a systematic review to find out whether spacing training sessions would also improve long-term retention of surgical skills. Design: We searched the Medline, PsycINFO, Embase, Eric, and Web of Science online databases. We only included articles that were randomized trials with a sample of medical trainees acquiring surgical motor skills in which the spacing effect was reported. The quality and bias of the articles were assessed using the Cochrane Collaboration's risk of bias assessment tool. Results: With respect to the spacing effect, 1955 articles were retrieved. After removing duplicates and articles that did not meet the inclusion criteria, 11 articles remained. The overall quality of the experiments was “moderate.” Trainees in the spaced condition scored higher in a retention test than students in the massed condition. Conclusions: Our systematic review showed evidence that spacing training sessions improves long-term surgical skills retention when compared to massed practice. However, the optimal gap between the re-study sessions is unclear.
KW - distributed practice
KW - long-term retention
KW - medical education
KW - Medical Knowledge
KW - Practice-Based Learning and Improvement
KW - simulation training
KW - spacing effect
KW - surgical skills
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=85028326922&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.1016/j.jsurg.2017.08.002
DO - 10.1016/j.jsurg.2017.08.002
M3 - Article
C2 - 28843958
AN - SCOPUS:85028326922
SN - 1931-7204
VL - 75
SP - 471
EP - 480
JO - Journal of Surgical Education
JF - Journal of Surgical Education
IS - 2
ER -