Cervical dilation assessment in dilation simulators

Objective: To compare the number of hits of students in cervical dilation assessment in dilation simulators with and without the use of direct visual validation.Methods: This is a cross-sectional study with 40 undergraduate obstetrics students from a public university in Sao Paulo, who assessed cervical dilatations in blind dilatation simulators, in three stages: in the first, they estimated dilations in the simulators; in the second, they sequentially compared the findings in simulators with a direct visual validation tool using the dominant hand and then the non-dominant hand; and in the third step, they simultaneously compared the estimates found in simulators with direct visual validation with the dominant and non-dominant hands. The outcome was the success of cervical dilation in dilation simulators or not, with a p-value <= 0.05 considered statistically significant. Results: We analyzed 240 assessments and computed the hits of students related to cervical dilatation assessment of simulators. There was an increase in the hit rate of 47.1% with the use of direct visual validation (OR= 4.689; 95%CI: 2.601-8.452; p<0.001).Conclusion: The use of direct visual validation increases the probability of hits by students in cervical dilation assessment in dilation simulators.