Strategic management simulations is a novel way to measure resident competencies

Background: The Strategic Management Simulation (SMS) has been used extensi vely to test and train higher cognitive functions in persons who occupy pro fessional and leadership positions (ie, skills like those needed by a surge on). Methods: The SMS was used to predict surgical residents' competency in deci sion making. Skills required for integrative surgical decision making inclu ding critical thinking, crisis management, flexibility, factual knowledge, and team building were assessed. Surgical residents with at least 2 years o f experience participated. In additional, attending faculty familiar with t he residents' work evaluated each resident with a standard comprehensive ra ting scale. Simulation performance on multiple measures was compared with f aculty ratings. Results: A number of measures obtained on simulation performance (eg, activ ity level, response speed, initiative, adequate usage of and appropriate se arch for relevant information) generated high correlations with comprehensi ve faculty assessment (eg, measures of crisis management, team interactions , flexibility of approach). Conclusion: The simulation technique is able to accurately assess performan ce of surgical residents (on a number of parameters) in a relatively brief time period. Simulation data were highly similar to faculty ratings that we re based on at least 2 years of experience with the resident. (C) 2001 Exce rpta Medica. Inc. All rights reserved.