Correlation of manual dexterity with USMLE scores and medical student class rank.

Full Abstract

INTRODUCTION:
Surgical programs often rely on objective measures of medical school cognitive performance, including United States Medical Licensing Exams (USMLE) scores and class rank, to predict success of an applicant in their training program. Although job applicants in non-medical fields often undergo dexterity testing prior to being hired, this has not been widely used in the selection process for surgical residency applicants. Thus, successful identification of applicants likely to succeed in surgical fields remains elusive. Given this difficulty, we wondered if performance on tests of manual dexterity would correlate with USMLE board scores and medical school class rank.

METHODS:
Fourth year medical students underwent a clinical study of dexterity testing using the Stromberg Dexterity Test (gross motor), the O'Conner Tweezer Test (fine motor), and the MIST-VR laparoscopic simulator (Mentice Corporation, Gothenberg, Sweden). Performance times were compared with USMLE Step I & II scores and class rank, as well as a self-assessment of manual dexterity.

RESULTS:
A total of 113 medical students participated. Gross motor dexterity was significantly correlated with class rank (P = 0.04) and USMLE Step I score (P = 0.04). Fine motor dexterity and MIST-VR performance did not correlate with class rank or USMLE scores. Self-assessment of good manual dexterity correlated with faster performance times on the MIST-VR laparoscopic simulator (0.0174).

CONCLUSIONS:
Gross motor skill is associated with objective measures of medical school cognitive performance, such as class rank and USMLE scores. Furthermore, self-assessment of dexterity may predict baseline laparoscopic abilities. Further research is necessary to determine whether such dexterity testing could be helpful in identifying applicants who possess the ability to develop into competent surgeons.

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Author information

Author/s: Goldberg, Aaron E (AE); Neifeld, James P (JP); Wolfe, Luke G (LG); Goldberg, Stephanie R (SR);

Affiliation: Department of Surgery, Medical College of Virginia Hospitals, Virginia Commonwealth University, Richmond, Virginia, USA.

Journal and publication information

Publication Type: Journal Article

Journal: The Journal of surgical research (J Surg Res), published in United States. (Language: eng)

Reference: 2008-Jun; vol 147 (issue 2) : pp 212-5

Dates: Created 2008/05/23; Completed 2008/07/02;

PMID: 18498872, status: MEDLINE (last retrieval date: 11/6/2008)

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MeSH headings (categories)

This article was linked to the MESH Headings shown below.

Adult
Computer Simulation
Education, Medical, Undergraduate - standards
Humans

Laparoscopy - standards
Licensure, Medical - standards
Motor Skills
Self Assessment (Psychology)

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