Video Coaching as an Efficient Teaching Method for Surgical Residents

Coaching relates to a cooperative process between a coach and a coachee, which includes "providing objective and constructive feedback to help a [coachee] recognize what works and what can be improved.

In our study the investigators will be filming general surgery residents while making a side to side anastomosis on a dog's cadaveric small bowel. Half of the participants will be randomized in the intervention group and will take part in a half hour coaching session with a surgeon. In this coaching session both resident and surgeon will watch the resident's filmed anastomosis and constructive feedback will be given by the surgeon. An inanimate model of bowel anastomosis will be available at the moment of the coaching to allow the surgeon to demonstrate the desired improvements.

Once all the residents in the intervention group will have completed their coaching session, both control and intervention group will be filmed making a second side to side anastomosis.

All the video taken will then be pooled in a random order. A blinded surgeon will then analyse each video taken with the objective structured assessment of technical skills (OSATS) tool.

The hypothesis is that the residents who received an half-hour coaching session will have significantly improved their OSATS score compared to the control group between the first and second anastomosis.