Pediatric and Adolescent Gynecology Education through Simulation (PAGES): Development and Evaluation of a Simulation Curriculum.

Study Objective: Develop a Pediatric and Adolescent Gynecology (PAG) curriculum, appropriate pelvic model for teaching examination skills, and an objective structured clinical examination (OSCE) for evaluation. Compare OSCE performance between residents with clinical training in PAG vs those that completed the curriculum vs those without either experience.

Design: Prospective cohort study.

Setting: Obstetrics and Gynecology (Ob/Gyn) residency program in an urban academic center.

Participants: Senior Ob/Gyn residents.

Interventions: A simulation-based teaching curriculum was created to teach PAG skills. A pediatric mannequin with anatomic pre-pubertal genitalia was developed for teaching and assessment of skills.

Main Outcome Measures: Performance on a PAG-based OSCE as assessed by 2 observers using a 40 point checklist.

Results: 17 residents participated in the OSCE; 5 completed the curriculum, 6 completed a clinical rotation, and 6 were controls. The teaching curriculum group had the highest median composite OSCE score (75.0%) compared to the clinical group (73.1%) and control group (55.3%). There was no statistical difference between the scores of the teaching and clinical groups, but the teaching group scored statistically higher than controls (P = .0331). Scores for each OSCE component were compared. The teaching and clinical groups outperformed controls on assessment and procedures. There was no difference in scores on history taking or physical examination.

Conclusion: An interactive teaching curriculum incorporating simulation and a realistic pediatric pelvic model can be used to teach PAG clinical skills. Using an OSCE to evaluate skills shows that residents completing the curriculum perform as well as those with clinical experience and better than controls.