Faculty perspectives on the use of standardized versus non-standardized oral examinations to assess medical students.

Objectives: To determine if faculty perceive standardized oral examinations to be more objective and useful than the non-standardized format in assessing third-year medical students' learning on the obstetrics and gynecology rotation.

Methods: Obstetrics and gynecology faculty at three teaching hospitals were sampled to complete a survey retrospectively comparing the standardized oral examination (SOE) and non-standardized or traditional oral examinations (TOE).  A Likert scale (0-5) was used to assess satisfaction, objectivity, and usefulness of SOE and TOE.

New Challenges for a Core Procedure: Development of a Faculty Workshop for Skills Maintenance for Abdominal Hysterectomy.

Objective: To describe the development of a low-cost educational module for OB/GYN faculty skills maintenance for total abdominal hysterectomy (TAH), a low frequency core procedure in obstetrics and gynecology.

Design: After review of existing educational tools and utilization of a modified Delphi method to establish consensus regarding key procedural components for skills maintenance, a 2-hour workshop was developed to review knowledge and participate in a simulation focused on the critical steps in performing TAH. An expert in TAH delivered a lecture highlighting important surgical considerations.

Predictors of 30-day readmission following hysterectomy for benign and malignant indications at a tertiary care academic medical center.

Background: Hospital readmissions are costly, frequent, and increasingly under public scrutiny. With increased financial constraints on the medical environment, understanding the drivers of unscheduled readmissions following gynecologic surgery will become increasingly important to value-driven care.

Objective: The current study was conducted to identify risk factors for 30-day readmission following hysterectomy for benign and malignant indications.