Intraoperative fluoroscopy skills in distal radius fracture surgery: valid and reliable assessment on a novel immersive virtual reality simulator

BACKGROUND AND PURPOSE: Orthopedic trainees must be able to perform intraoperative fluoroscopy imaging to assess the surgical result after volar locking plate surgeries of distal radius fractures. Guided by Messick's contemporary validity framework, the aim of our study was to gather evidence of validity for a test of proficiency for intraoperative imaging of a distal radius fracture using a novel immersive virtual reality simulator.

METHODS: 11 novices and 9 experienced surgeons employed at orthopedic departments completed 2 individual simulator sessions. At each session the participants performed 3 repetitions of an intraoperative fluoroscopic control of a distal radius fracture, consisting of 5 different fluoroscopic views. Several performance metrics were automatically recorded by the simulator and compared between the 2 groups.

RESULTS: Simulator metrics for 3 of the 5 fluoroscopic views could discriminate between novices and experienced surgeons. An estimated composite score based on these 3 views showed good test-retest reliability, ICC = 0.82 (confidence interval 0.65-0.92; P < 0.001). A discriminatory standard was set at a composite score of 6.15 points resulting in 1 false positive (i.e., novice scoring better than the standard), and 1 false negative (i.e., experienced surgeon scoring worse than the standard).

CONCLUSION: This study provided validity evidence from all 5 sources of Messick's contemporary validity framework (content, response process, internal structure, relationship with other variables, and consequences) for a simulation-based test of proficiency in intraoperative fluoroscopic control of a distal radius fracture fixated by a volar locking plate.