Constructing a question bank based on script concordance approach as a novel assessment methodology in surgical education.

BACKGROUND: Script Concordance Test (SCT) is a new assessment tool that reliably assesses clinical reasoning skills. Previous descriptions of developing SCT-question banks were merely subjective. This study addresses two gaps in the literature: 1) conducting the first phase of a multistep validation process of SCT in Plastic Surgery, and 2) providing an objective methodology to construct a question bank based on SCT. METHODS: After developing a test blueprint, 52 test items were written. Five validation questions were developed and a validation survey was established online. Seven reviewers were asked to answer this survey. They were recruited from two countries, Saudi Arabia and Canada, to improve the test's external validity. Their ratings were transformed into percentages. Analysis was performed to compare reviewers' ratings by looking at correlations, ranges, means, medians, and overall scores. RESULTS: Scores of reviewers' ratings were between 76% and 95% (mean 86% ± 5). We found poor correlations between reviewers (Pearson's: +0.38 to -0.22). Ratings of individual validation questions ranged between 0 and 4 (on a scale 1-5). Means and medians of these ranges were computed for each test item (mean: 0.8 to 2.4; median: 1 to 3). A subset of test items comprising 27 items was generated based on a set of inclusion and exclusion criteria. CONCLUSION: This study proposes an objective methodology for validation of SCT-question bank. Analysis of validation survey is done from all angles, i.e., reviewers, validation questions, and test items. Finally, a subset of test items is generated based on a set of criteria.

Seasonal variation of hypertrophic pyloric stenosis: a population-based study.

INTRODUCTION: Seasonal variation in the incidence of hypertrophic pyloric stenosis (HPS) has been long debated. The goal of this study was to determine if seasonal variation exists in the incidence of pyloric stenosis. METHODS: A population-based cohort consisted of all infants in the province of Ontario, Canada with HPS from 1993 to 2000. The incidence of HPS per season was adjusted by birth rate and expressed as number of pyloromyotomies per 100,000 infants less than 12 months of age. One-way analysis of variance was used to compare HPS incidence between seasons. Further time series and spectral analysis were performed to examine for seasonal variation. RESULTS: There were 1,777 infants included in the population-based cohort. June was the month with the highest rate of HPS. The highest rate of pyloromyotomy occurred in the summer 14.92 and the lowest in the winter 10.73, this difference was statistically significant (p = 0.01). Spectral analysis showed that June was the month with the highest rate and February had the lowest rates p = 0.0014. CONCLUSION: Hypertrophic pyloric stenosis more commonly presents in the summer. Seasonal variation suggests a possible etiological role for environmental factors.