An expert-led and artificial intelligence system-assisted tutoring course to improve the confidence of Chinese medical interns in suturing and ligature skills: a prospective pilot study
Open accessAbstract
Purpose: Lack of confidence in suturing/ligature skills due to insufficient practice and assessments is common among novice Chinese medical interns. This study aimed to improve the skill acquisition of medical interns through a new intervention program. Methods: In addition to regular clinical training, expert-led or expert-led plus artificial intelligence (AI) system tutoring courses were implemented during the first 2 weeks of the surgical block. Interns could voluntarily join the regular (no additional tutoring), expert-led tutoring, or expert-led+AI tutoring groups freely. In the regular group, interns (n=25) did not receive additional tutoring. The expert-led group received 3-hour expert-led tutoring and in-training formative assessments after 2 practice sessions. After a similar expert-led course, the expert-led+AI group (n=23) practiced and assessed their skills on an AI system. Through a comparison with the internal standard, the system automatically recorded and evaluated every intern’s suturing/ligature skills. In the expert-led+AI group, performance and confidence were compared between interns who participated in 1, 2, or 3 AI practice sessions.Results: The end-of-surgical block objective structured clinical examination (OSCE) performance and self-assessed confidence in suturing/ligature skills were highest in the expert-led+AI group. In comparison with the expert-led group, the expert-led+AI group showed similar performance in the in-training assessment and greater improvement in the end-of-surgical block OSCE. In the expert-led+AI group, the best performance and highest post-OSCE confidence were noted in those who engaged in 3 AI practice sessions.Conclusion: This pilot study demonstrated the potential value of incorporating an additional expert-led+AI system–assisted tutoring course into the regular surgical curriculum.
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- Authors
- Yang, Y.-Y., & Shulruf, B.
- Affiliations
- Taipei Veterans General Hospital (TW)
- UNSW Sydney (AU)
- Corresponding author
- Yang, Ying-Ying
- Venue
- Journal of Educational Evaluation for Health Professions
- Published
- 2019-04-10
- Volume
- 16
- Pages
- 7
- ISSN
- 1738-1339 (ISSN-L)
- 1975-5937
- PMC
- PMC6517322
- OpenAlex
- W2936804893
- Cited by
- 65
- References
- 1
- Citations by year
- 2026: 11 · 2025: 20 · 2024: 14 · 2023: 7 · 2022: 5 · 2021: 4 · 2020: 4
- FWCI
- 3.11
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- diamond
- doi.org
- Licence
- Locations
- Journal of Educational Evaluation for Health Professions (publishedVersion, cc-by)
- Europe PMC (PubMed Central) (publishedVersion, cc-by)
- PubMed Central (publishedVersion, cc-by)
- PubMed (publishedVersion)
- UNSWorks (University of New South Wales, Sydney, Australia) (submittedVersion, cc-by-nc-nd)
- DOAJ (DOAJ: Directory of Open Access Journals) (submittedVersion, cc-by-sa)
- ResearchSpace (University of Auckland) (submittedVersion, cc-by)
- Topics
- Health Sciences › Medicine › Surgery › Surgical Simulation and Training
- Health Sciences › Medicine › Public Health, Environmental and Occupational Health › Innovations in Medical Education
- Health Sciences › Medicine › Physiology › Simulation-Based Education in Healthcare
- Keywords
- suturing skills, medical interns, surgical skills training, self-confidence, OSCE performance, formative assessment, surgical curriculum, Chinese medical education
- MeSH terms
- Adult, Artificial Intelligence, Clinical Competence, Curriculum, Education, Medical, Graduate, Female, Humans, Internship and Residency, Ligation, Male, Pilot Projects, Prospective Studies, Suture Techniques, Taiwan, Asian People
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