Validation of Subjective Rating Scales Used to Assess Surgical Conditions in Abdominal Surgery

Use of neuromuscular blockade (NMB) may improve the surgical work space in patients scheduled for laparoscopic surgical cases (e.g. hysterectomy, ovarian cystectomy, myomectomy). Clinical studies investigating this question often use a numerical or verbal rating scale for subjective evaluation of the surgical workspace. However, no good subjective rating scale have been developed or validated. Neither have possible inter-individual differences in use of such subjective scales been described. Purpose: The aim of this study is to validate different subjective rating scales to determine which scale is most useful among surgeons.