Reliability of the Dundee Endoscopic Psychomotor Tester (DEPT) for dominant hand performance

Surg Endosc. 2001 Jul;15(7):673-6. doi: 10.1007/s004640080001. Epub 2001 May 7.

Abstract

Background: The Dundee Endoscopic Psychomotor Tester (DEPT) was developed as a means of obtaining an objective assessment of endoscopic performance using a single hand. This paper evaluates the reliability of the system.

Methods: Twenty medical students were tested on the DEPT for four runs using the dominant hand. Test-retest reproducibility and coefficient alpha to measure the internal consistency were used as indexes of the reliability of the DEPT system.

Results: A positive correlation was found between different runs in all outcome measures of the DEPT. Coefficient a was > 0.7 for all parameters.

Conclusion: DEPT provides a reliable method for the objective assessment of single-handed endoscopic performance in terms of aiming and force exerted on the target plate.

MeSH terms

  • Clinical Competence
  • Endoscopy / standards*
  • Functional Laterality / physiology*
  • General Surgery / education*
  • Humans
  • Microcomputers
  • Motor Skills / physiology
  • Psychomotor Performance / physiology*
  • Reproducibility of Results
  • Students, Medical