113 Testing the Efficacy of Simulation in Neurosurgical Education: First Results of the SENSE Trial
Abstract INTRODUCTION Surgical education has hitherto relied heavily on the age-old acute;see one, do oneacute; paradigm. Factors such as traineesacute; decreased OR exposure due to worktime directives have put this paradigm to the test. The improvement of surgical skills in simulation laboratories has been touted as a possible solution and adopted in disciplines such as general surgery. We investigated the efficacy of a simulation curriculum on skill acquisition of a neurosurgical procedure (EVD-placement) by means of a single-blinded RCT. METHODS The Simulation Efficacy in Neurosurgical Education (SENSE) trial is a single-blinded RCT with two arms. Recruits to Arm A underwent simulation training (software and cadaver-based), after which they attempted to place an EVD on a plastic skull model. Recruits to the control Arm B witnessed the placement of an EVD by an experienced surgeon, after which attempted the EVD placement. The time needed to undertake the procedure and the accuracy of catheter placement were assessed by a blinded assessor. RESULTS >21 interns/residents were recruited to the trial (Arm A n = 10, Arm B n = 11). There was a significant reduction of the time needed to execute the procedure in the simulation arm vs. the control arm (147.54s vs. 242.72s, P = 0.000961). The simulation arm recruits performed better in the accuracy test, with n = 8 placing the drain correctly (80%), compared with the control arm (n = 3, 27.27%, P = 0.03). The simulation arm recruits reported a statistically significant increase in their confidence in performing the procedure both under supervision (P = 0.016) and independently (P = 0.027) compared to the control arm in subjective questionnaires. CONCLUSION Our results show that skill acquisition in simulation laboratories could be a beneficial tool in neurosurgical education in the age of decreased OR exposure. Further simulation trials are proposed to further investigate the efficacy of simulation in more complex neurosurgical procedures.