Zeitschrift für Orthopädie und Unfallchirurgie
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Randomized Controlled Trial Comparative Study
[Clinical-practical Examination in Orthopaedic Teaching: Who is the "Ideal" Examiner?]
Background Medical curricula require an increasing amount of integrated clinical practical skills education. German medical faculties are increasingly implementing the OSCE (objective structured clinical examination) to test students' practical as well as communication skills. Teaching and assessment tools for practical skills include simulators and simulated patient scenarios, where peer-assisted teaching (PAT) is applied. ⋯ Conclusion The analysis shows only one significant evaluation difference between the two assessors, with the PAT student tutor's evaluation being stricter. The authors conclude that a point difference of 0.8 out of 25 in the average overall evaluation and an interrater reliability of 0.95 in an orthopaedic OSCE station examining practical skills as well as communication skills justifies employing PAT student tutors as assessors in this context. The obligatory requirements for this are a detailed PAT student tutor training, the development of a well-structured and valid checklist, as well as continuous quality assurance of the overall OSCE.
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Introduction Because of recent increases in life expectancy, lumbar spinal stenosis (LSS) has become one of the most common degenerative changes in the spine. In patients not responding to conservative therapy, microsurgical decompression is the gold standard of operative treatment for degenerative LSS. The goal of the current study is to evaluate quality of life after microsurgical decompression for LSS, using data from the DWG Register (previously Spine Tango). ⋯ Conclusion Our study shows that LSS patients without previous surgery and neurologic deficits can expect significant pain relief and improved quality of life already six weeks after undergoing stabilizing decompression. There was an increase in positive postoperative effects over 12 months. The DWG Register provides a standardized and validated means to compare non-operative and operative treatments of the spine over the long term.