Novel Use of Household Items in Open and Robotic Surgical Skills Resident Education

Background. The aim of this study was to investigate the effectiveness of surgical simulators created using household items and to determine their potential role in surgical skills training. Methods. Ten urology residents attended a surgical skills workshop and practiced using surgical simulators and models. These included a wound closure model, an open prostatectomy model, a delicate tissue simulation, a knot-tying station, and a laparoscopic simulator. After the workshop, the residents completed a 5-point Likert questionnaire. Primary outcome was face validity of the models. Secondary outcomes included usefulness as a training tool and ability to replicate the models. Results. All models were easily created and successfully represented the surgical task being simulated. Residents evaluated the activities as being useful for training purposes overall. They also felt confident that they could recreate the simulators. Conclusion. Low-fidelity training models can be used to improve surgical skills at a reasonable cost. The models will require further evaluation to determine construct validity and to determine how the improvements translate to OR performance. While high-fidelity simulators may continue to be utilized in formal surgical training, residents should be encouraged to supplement their training with innovative homemade models.

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New Age Teaching: Beyond Didactics

The Scientific World JOURNAL ◽

10.1100/tsw.2006.368 ◽

2006 ◽

Vol 6 ◽

pp. 2370-2380 ◽

Cited By ~ 10

Author(s):

Peter D. Vlaovic ◽

Elspeth M. McDougall

Keyword(s):

Operating Room ◽

Surgical Simulation ◽

Public Awareness ◽

Skills Training ◽

Surgical Skills ◽

Surgical Simulators ◽

Surgical Trainees ◽

Surgical Skills Training ◽

Increasing Demand

Widespread acceptance of laparoscopic urology techniques has posed many challenges to training urology residents and allowing postgraduate urologists to acquire often difficult new surgical skills. Several factors in surgical training programs are limiting the ability to train residents in the operating room, including limited-hours work weeks, increasing demand for operating room productivity, and general public awareness of medical errors. As such, surgical simulation may provide an opportunity to enhance residency experience and training, and optimize post-graduate acquisition of new skills and maintenance of competency. This review article explains and defines the various levels of validity as it pertains to surgical simulators. The most recently and comprehensively validity tested simulators are outlined and summarized. The potential role of surgical simulation in the formative and summative assessment of surgical trainees, as well as, the certification and recertification process of postgraduate surgeons will be delineated. Surgical simulation will be an important adjunct to the traditional methods of surgical skills training and will allow surgeons to maintain their proficiency in the technically challenging aspects of minimally invasive urologic surgery.

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934 Remote one-to-one virtual surgical skills training: Evolving the delivery of operative skills training in the UK

British Journal of Surgery ◽

10.1093/bjs/znab134.178 ◽

2021 ◽

Vol 108 (Supplement_2) ◽

Author(s):

Christian Asher ◽

Ibrahim Ibrahim ◽

Eyfrossini Katsarma

Keyword(s):

Surgical Training ◽

Wound Closure ◽

Cost Effective ◽

Skills Training ◽

Training Programme ◽

Surgical Skills ◽

Wound Closure Techniques ◽

Surgical Skills Training ◽

Speciality Training ◽

One To One

Abstract Introduction COVID-19 has had an unprecedented effect on surgical training, including prerequisite entry-level courses to speciality training. We describe the implementation of a virtual, one-to-one training programme aimed at the acquisition and retention of operative skills. Methods Enrolment commenced 8th May 2020 for wound closure techniques or an extended programme including tendon repairs, delivered by Specialist Registrars in Plastic Surgery using Zoom® (v. 5.0.5) via mobile device. Participant feedback was collected retrospectively using a 5-point scale following course completion. Results 5 participants completed the wound closure programme, and 3 the extended programme, over an average of 5 weeks, with 2 sessions per week. 5 participants were male, 3 female and were of the following grades: 2 CT2, 4 FY2, 1 FY1 and 1 medical student. A total of 103.5 hours of training was recorded to 7 September 2020. Participants reported that all virtual skills taught were readily transferable to the theatre environment. Following the course, all participants felt confident to complete the skills learnt independently, rating the course as excellent. Conclusions The COVID-19 crisis has placed insurmountable obstacles in the face of surgical training. With further validation, we aim to develop surgical skills training with virtual, easily reproducible, cost-effective, trainee centred programmes.

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