Table of Contents

University of Bergen suturing skills assessment tool (UBAT)

Introduction

This is not a microsurgery specific score, but one used of suturing in general.

Tool

Quality indicators Yes No
Grabs the needle with the instruments? (Not with fingers) 1 0
Holds the forceps correctly? 1 0
Penetrates the tissue with a 90° angle? (Penetrates and pulls needle out on the curve) 1 0
Grabs the suture (thread) in a correct fashion? (Not in a way that potentially could lead to suture breakage) 1 0
Manages the suture without tangling the ends in the knot? (Incorrect when: leaves the ends of the suture too long and does not grab the thread at the end) 1 0
Ties a correct square knot? 1 0
Makes parallel sutures? (Equal length from the wound edge and equal depth on both sides) 1 0
Gentle tissue handling? (No tissue damage) 1 0
Number of correct items in above list
Subjective assessment: Did the candidate display adequate suturing skills for safe clinical practice?

above adapted from: https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s00238-019-01615-w/tables/1

Comments

  1. mixes process with outcome
    1. parallel sutures and square knot)
    2. process 6, outcome 2
  2. conflates measures
    1. parallel sutures - depth and length are two independent measures
  3. does not account for frequency of mistakes in score
  4. equally punitive on less serious 'mistakes' e.g. grabbing needle with instrument
  5. limited 'global' rating - but only “yes” or “no” for safe clinical practice

Reference

Almeland, S. K., Lindford, A., Sundhagen, H. P., Hufthammer, K. O., Strandenes, E., Svendsen, H. L., Guttormsen, A. B., & Hansson, E. (2020). The effect of microsurgical training on novice medical students’ basic surgical skills—A randomized controlled trial. European Journal of Plastic Surgery, 43(4), 459–466. https://doi.org/10.1007/s00238-019-01615-w

See also

  1. microsurgery_assessment for introduction into the topic
  2. rajan2019 for review of scoring systems