Fundamentals of vascular surgery: A plan for the uniform instruction and assessment of basic skills in vascular surgery

Training surgeons poses many unique challenges. In addition to the clinical acumen that must be learned, a minimum threshold of technical competency is a requisite for independent practice. The trends of endovascular interventions and open surgical procedures add another layer of complexity to vascular surgery training. Simulation can provide a solution for both technical skills training and evaluating proficiency. The Education Committee of the Association of Program Directors of Vascular Surgery (APDVS) developed the Fundamentals of Vascular and Endovascular Surgery platform to provide an opportunity for more uniform basic technical skill teaching and assessment across all vascular training programs. Evaluation by experts with standardized scoring of Objective Structured Assessment of Technical Skills (OSATS) Global Rating Score and Global Summary grading systems have demonstrated correlation with participant ability when completing the end-to-side anastomosis, patch angioplasty, and clockface suturing models. Future research should be directed toward developing autonomous and objective methods for technical assessments on these models.