The aims of this research include: 1) definition of standardized metrics for otological surgical techniques, 2) the translation of those standards into objective criteria for use in a computer synthesized surgical environment, and 3) the correlation between expert evaluation and computer automated assessment of resident proficiency.
The interactions will be computer-based and include:
Experts will learn to use the system so that they can evaluate the quality of translation of metrics to the simulation environment.
Evaluations will be in the form of anonymous web-based surveys. Experts serve as a focus group.
Residents will use the simulation environment to perform surgical procedures on virtual specimens. Residents will then evaluate the quality of the simulation environment via anonymous web-based surveys.
Experts will use the simulation environment to evaluate and rate the residents performance.
The computer environment will be used to automatically assess and rate the residents performance.
Expert and computer assessment will be compared.
