Objectives: Virtual simulators have been validated as training tools for development of laparoscopic skills and as an instrument of discrimination between novice and senior surgeons. Whilst formal training programs for inexperienced surgeons are lacking; there is no information about the use of these simulation devices in order to obtain optimal results.
Material and methods: We present a quasi-experimental multi-variate study using the Lap SIM® laparoscopic surgery virtual simulator (Surgical Science®) with the Lap SIM Basic Skills 3.0 software (11 tasks). Results from the performed exercises by 20 subjects (undergraduate students and first and second year residents) without previous exposition to laparoscopic surgery techniques (10 repetitions of each task, one hour per day, 10 hours of total exposure) were analyzed.
Results: 11 tasks with progressive difficulty were analyzed using the following variables “global score”, “total time”, “mistakes” and “tissue damage”. The first seven tasks required only 5 repetitions in order to achieve a significantly improved score from the baseline (p
Session: Poster
Program Number: P251