Objective assessment of laparoscopic targeting skills using a Short-Time Power of Difference (STPOD) method.

We showed the construct validity of STPOD (Power) and STPOD (Stop) using both the box trainer and the simulator. This method is a good evaluation tool for assessing a physician's skill; however, there are much more complex motions that are performed in actual surgery. Future studies are needed to focus on evaluation in an environment closer to actual surgery and comparing with other existing methods.