Mastery of basic skills is critical for surgical training. Such training is best obtained by experiential learning, which requires an element of self-reflection. Self-reflection is not always an automatic process, however; guidance may be required. This article sought to determine whether guided self-assessment would help facilitate student mastery of learned skills in a veterinary basic surgery course. The course consisted of 18 lectures and eight laboratories. Students were provided with written notes and presentation slides before the course. At the end of each lab, students completed a self-assessment of their skills. Skills were practiced in multiple labs; at the end of the course, each student was given a graded, practical examination to evaluate skills mastery. Statistical analysis was performed to compare students' mean self-assessment over the eight labs and to determine whether self-assessment scores correlated with examination grades. Results from 80 students were included. Students' overall self-assessments improved significantly from lab 1 to lab 8, and their self-assessment of two specific skills (closed gloving and simple continuous suture pattern) also improved. Students' self-assessments after the eighth lab were predictive of their practical exam scores. These results suggest guided reflection in the form of self-assessment could help facilitate student mastery of basic surgery skills. Correlation between self-assessment and practical examination results suggests instructors may use these self-assessments to detect students who need extra practice or instruction.
Keywords: experiential learning; gowning and gloving; self-assessment; skills; surgery; suturing.