• H MacRae, G Regehr, W Leadbetter, and R K Reznick.
• Department of Surgery and Centre for Research in Education, Faculty of Medicine, University of Toronto, Toronto, Ontario, Canada.
• Am. J. Surg. 2000 Mar 1; 179 (3): 190-3.

BackgroundTwo complimentary examinations designed to comprehensively assess competence for surgical practice have been developed. The Objective Structured Assessment of Technical Skill (OSATS) evaluates a resident's operative skill, and the Patient Assessment and Management Examination (PAME) evaluates clinical management skills.MethodsTwenty-four postgraduate year (PGY)-4 and PGY-5 general surgery residents from four training programs were examined. Each examination had eight stations, with a total of 6 hours of testing time.ResultsInterstation reliability for the OSATS was 0.64, for the PAME was 0.71, and for the total test was 0. 74. Examination scores discriminated between PGY-4 and PGY-5 residents for the OSATS (t = 4.39, P <.01), the PAME (t = 1.86, P <. 05), and the total examination (t = 3.90, P <.01). Year of training accounted for 40%, of the variance of scores.ConclusionsThis comprehensive examination is a reliable and valid method of assessing critical skills in senior surgical residents and may be useful for the formal assessment of readiness for practice.

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