A Simulation Curriculum for Teaching Obstetrics and Gynecology Residents the Management of Asherman's Syndrome

Abstract

Study Objective To describe a simulation-based curriculum and evaluate its effect on OBGYN residents’ knowledge and confidence about the management of Asherman's Syndrome. Design A prospective cohort study. Setting A Canadian OBGYN residency program. Patients or Participants Twenty OBGYN residents. Interventions OBGYN residents participated in three targeted simulation-training sessions on the management of Asherman's Syndrome in the following sequence: didactic teaching with surgical videos and demonstration of safe dissection techniques; hysteroscopic dissection of intrauterine adhesions; insertion of intrauterine balloon to prevent adhesion reformation. Participants completed a pre-simulation and post-simulation survey assessing knowledge level of Asherman's Syndrome using a 20-point questionnaire and their self-reported confidence level in each of the simulation components using a Likert scale. (Component 1: Overall knowledge of Asherman's Syndrome; Component 2: Dissection of intrauterine adhesions; Component 3: Identifying the severity of intrauterine adhesions; Component 4: Insertion of a Cook's catheter.) Additional qualitative feedback was used to evaluate the strengths and weaknesses of the simulation curriculum. Measurements and Main Results Twenty OBGYN residents at the University of Saskatchewan participated in the study. The mean percentage of correct answers was 54.5% (+/- 18.3%) on the pre-simulation survey compared with 84.5% (+/- 12.5%) post-simulation (p Conclusion Simulation teaching is an effective method of increasing OBGYN residents’ knowledge and confidence about the management of Asherman's Syndrome.