Lynn S. Mandel

Development of an ovarian cancer symptom index

Currently, screening for ovarian cancer is not recommended for the general population. Targeting women with specific symptoms for screening has been evaluated only recently, because it was believed that symptoms had limited specificity.

Education in adult basic life support training programs

The Panel on Educational Issues in Adult Basic Life Support Training Programs reviewed the characteristics of adult learners, aspects of educational theory, issues concerning barriers to learning and performing CPR, and issues concerning testing and evaluation. The panel made the following recommendations: a comprehensive evaluation of the basic life support program with the goal of improving the program design and educational tools must be initiated; adult programs must be designed to motivate laypersons to become trained in CPR, as well as to target relatives and friends of high-risk individuals; and emotional and attitudinal issues, including the students reluctance to act in an emergency, must be addressed. Programs must incorporate information on the willingness of an individual to perform CPR; CPR programs must be simplified and focus on critical success factors; flexible educational approaches in programs are encouraged; flexible programming that addresses the needs of the allied health professional is encouraged; formal testing should be eliminated for layperson programs; and formal testing for health care providers and instructors should be continued.

Development of a bench station objective structured assessment of technical skills.

OBJECTIVE We have previously shown that objective structured assessment of technical skills performed in an animal model was an innovative, reliable, and valid method of assessing surgical skills. Our goal was to develop a less costly bench station objective structured assessment of technical skills and to evaluate the feasibility, reliability, and validity of this exam. METHODS A seven‐station examination was administered to 24 residents. The tests included laparoscopic procedures (salpingostomy, intracorporeal knot tying, closure of port sites) and open abdominal procedures (subcuticular closure, bladder neck suspension, repair of enterotomy, abdominal wall closure). All tasks were performed using life‐like surgical models. Residents were timed and assessed at each station using three methods of scoring: a task‐specific checklist, a global rating scale, and a pass/fail grade. RESULTS Assessment of construct validity, the ability of the test to discriminate among residency levels, found significant differences on the checklist, global rating scale, time for procedures, and pass/fail grade by level of training. Reliability indices calculated with Cronbachs ∞ were 0.77 for the checklists and 0.94 for the global rating scale. Overall interrater reliability indices were 0.91 for the global rating scale and 0.92 for the checklists. Total cost for replaceable parts and facilities was

CPR instruction by videotape: results of a community project.

1900. CONCLUSION The less costly and more portable bench station objective structured assessment of technical skills can reliably and validly assess the surgical skills of gynecology residents. This type of examination can be a useful tool to identify residents who need additional surgical instruction, provide remediation, and may become a mechanism to certify surgical skill competence.

Formal teaching of surgical skills in an obstetric-gynecologic residency.

STUDY OBJECTIVE To increase the rate of bystander CPR in a community by use of a free, mailed, 10-minute videotape of CPR instruction. DESIGN Prospective, randomized intervention trial. One half of the households (8,659) received the free videotape (video-tape group) and were considered the intervention group, and one half (8,659) served as the control (no-videotape group). All households were followed from December 1991 to March 1993 to determine whether a cardiac arrest occurred and who initiated CPR. A telephone interview obtained additional information about circumstances of the arrest and whether members of the household viewed the videotape. SETTING City of Everett and South Snohomish County, Washington. A commercial mailing list was used to identify 17,318 households with a head of the household who was more than 50 years old. PARTICIPANTS A case was defined as a cardiac arrest in which CPR was initiated or continued by emergency medical services personnel. Only cardiac arrests due to presumed underlying heart disease were included. Arrests occurring after arrival of emergency medical services personnel were not included. INTERVENTIONS The intervention was a free 10-minute videotape with CPR instructions mailed to the 8,659 intervention households. Paramedic run reports were reviewed and interviews were conducted with cardiac arrest bystanders to determine who initiated CPR and whether they had received and viewed the videotape. RESULTS Sixty-five cardiac arrests occurred in the study households: 31 in households that received the videotape and 34 in households that did not review the videotape. The overall rate of bystander CPR was 47% in the videotape group and 53% in the no-videotape group (P = NS). In nine cardiac arrests, an individual was present who had watched the videotape; six of these nine cases (66%) had bystander CPR. CONCLUSION Mass mailings of CPR instructional videos are likely to be ineffective in increasing the rate of bystander CPR in a community.

Use of a postpartum hemorrhage simulator for instruction and evaluation of residents.

OBJECTIVE To describe a formal teaching program of basic surgical skills in an obstetric-gynecologic residency program and evaluate its effectiveness. METHODS A surgical skills program was developed for all residents. Using bench and animal laboratory sessions, residents were given instruction and performed both laparoscopic and open abdominal procedures. All were given a pretest and were tested again 6 months later. Residents also evaluated their experiences. RESULTS To date, the formal teaching sessions have been given to 24 residents, all of whom believed their confidence and technical skills improved as a result of the sessions. On a scale of 1 to 5, the median rating of the bench laboratory experience was 5 (range 4-5), and the pig laboratory was 5 (range 4-5). All residents believed the surgery sessions should be continued and the number of sessions increased. Preliminary evaluation indicated that time to suture a 10-inch incision decreased by 28%, from an average of 225 (standard deviation [SD] 51) seconds to 171 (SD 43) seconds (P < .001), and evaluation of surgical technique significantly improved at the second pretest (P = .013). Laparoscopic placement of pegs on a board in 2 minutes increased from an average of 5 (SD 2.5) to 7.3 (SD 2.6; P = .001). The cost of the bench laboratory sessions was minimal. Each pig was approximately

Can mentors prevent and reduce burnout in new chairs of departments of obstetrics and gynecology : results from a prospective, randomized pilot study

100, and the facility charge for each 4-hour laboratory session was

An evaluation of cervical cancer in women age sixty and over

1500. CONCLUSION When formal surgical training was given to obstetric-gynecologic residents, their surgical skills improved subjectively and objectively.

Ovarian carcinoma diagnosis.

OBJECTIVE Postpartum hemorrhage is a common and potentially life-threatening obstetric emergency. We sought to create a realistic simulation and validate a standardized grading form to evaluate competency in the management of postpartum hemorrhage. METHODS Residents from 3 programs underwent training with a postpartum hemorrhage simulation using a standard obstetric birthing model equipped with an inflatable uterus to simulate uterine atony. All simulations were graded by staff physicians with a standardized grading sheet constructed from the current literature on the topic. Residents were expected to recognize the hemorrhage and take appropriate steps, including asking the assistant to administer medications, to correct the problem. Objective and subjective performance was measured with standardized grading sheets, and results were analyzed for reliability using Cronbach α and intraclass correlation coefficients. This project was conducted in accordance with the hospital Institutional Review Board policies at each institution. RESULTS Forty residents from 3 institutions underwent simulation training. The majority were unable to correct the hemorrhage within 5 minutes and almost half also made at least 1 error, either the dose or route, in the medications they requested. Reliability was evaluated with Cronbach α and demonstrated the grading sheets were valid and had good interrater reliability. DISCUSSION A simulated postpartum hemorrhage scenario can identify important deficiencies in resident knowledge and performance, with no risk to patients. The standardized grading form worked well for our purposes and was reliable in our study. Further testing is needed to evaluate whether the training improves performance in real-life hemorrhages.

Frequency of Symptoms of Ovarian Cancer in Women Presenting to Primary Care Clinics

OBJECTIVE This study assessed burnout in new chairs of obstetrics and gynecology and whether mentoring by experienced chairs would prevent or reduce burnout. STUDY DESIGN We performed a year-long prospective, randomized trial. Questionnaires were sent to new chairs to obtain demographic information and to identify need for mentoring and level of burnout. Fourteen chairs in the intervention group selected a mentor; 13 chairs served as controls. After 1 year, questionnaires were completed to determine stress and burnout and the impact of mentoring. RESULTS Financial issues were the major stressors. New chairs identified human resources, finances, and relationships with school leaders as areas of greatest need for mentoring. Few chairs exhibited burnout. No differences were observed in burnout at the start of the study or after 1 year in the study groups. Mentors and new chairs found the mentoring relationship difficult to establish and maintain. CONCLUSION Long-distance mentoring by experienced chairs did not alter burnout in new chairs of obstetrics and gynecology. Local mentors appear to be more effective.