Students attend operating room sessions throughout their medical school training and are often given the opportunity to scrub and assist during the surgery. Many students have no or very little formal teaching in operating room etiquette, which leads to last minute on the job training from operating room staff. This study aimed to identify if there was any difference between the students knowledge, technique and competency in operating room etiquette skills between two groups of students who received different methods of teaching. Thirty three 2nd year medical students, that had no previous exposure to operating room etiquette, were recruited for this study. There was variation in their age 18 to 27 years (mean SD years; 19.7 1.9). All students were initially observed scrubbing, gowning and gloving using their baseline knowledge. Their technique was scored using the Dundee University Assessment Sheet and each students knowledge was tested using a spot the mistake quiz. The students were ranked on initial competency then using randomised stratification, separated into two groups. Group One received traditional teaching by operating room staff. Group Two was taught using the new operating room etiquette course, which includes a power point presentation, a video and a practical session. Both groups knowledge and practical skills were reassessed following their teaching. The assessment was repeated at 3 months using the same method, to measure longer-term learning.Purpose
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