Feasibility and Utility of Mobile Applications for the Evaluation of Urology Residents' Surgical Competence

Objective To provide real-time assessment and feedback on the competency of urology residents’ surgical skill via mobile applications and examine their feasibility and utility. Materials and methods Two mobile application-based systems (SIMPL and myTIPreport) were sequentially implemented for the case-by-case assessment of residents’ performance of surgical skills at a single institution. Data was collected regarding residents’ perception of their feedback pre- and post-implementation of the applications. Faculty were surveyed after their implementation to determine their feasibility and utility. Results 297 individual evaluations were completed with SIMPL and 822 with myTIPreport over four and eleven months respectively. Post-implementation, residents showed significantly improved perceptions regarding the quantity and personalization of surgical skill feedback (P = .043 and .005 respectively). A majority (75%) of the faculty found the mobile applications feasible to use, an improvement compared to prior methods of resident evaluation, and would recommend continued use. Conclusion This study represents the first documented use of real-time surgical competency assessment in urology. The use of mobile applications to evaluate urology residents’ surgical competency in clinical practice is both feasible and useful. Their use may allow for more individualized surgical skill teaching during training and for the verification of the surgical skills necessary to practice autonomously.