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You are here: Home / Abstracts / Surgical Team Skills Trainer Feasibility Study

Surgical Team Skills Trainer Feasibility Study

Bilal Khan, MD, Nova Szoka, MD, Timothy Perez, MD

University of New Mexico

Objective of the technology
During laparoscopic surgery the role of the assistant is vital to support the actions of the primary surgeon. Despite this critical role, neither the performance of the assistant individually nor the dynamics of the surgeon/assistant interaction has been the subject of vigorous study. Although current technical skills assessments measure performance of an individual, testing methodologies that incorporate an assistant have not been described. To address this need we have modified the Fundamentals of Laparoscopic Surgery ™ (FLS) skills tasks to include participation of an assistant. The objective of this technology is to create a prototype technical skills trainer suitable for team training and evaluation.

Description of the method of and its application
A standard FLS trainer box was modified to accommodate two test subjects. A second video monitor was added and a VGA splitter was used to project the image of the task area on both monitors. Two additional trocars are introduced at the left side of the covering membrane for assistant use (Figure 1).

Conclusions/Future Directions
Modifying an existing technical skills assessment to incorporate an assistant is feasible. Our preliminary data supports the hypothesis that an ideal assistant will not affect the time required to complete the FLS tasks.

In laparoscopic procedures the surgeon rarely functions in isolation. Training and testing modalities should reflect the reality of a surgical team dynamic. This prototype multi-participant skills trainer is a first step in developing a methodology to evaluate surgical team performance. Experience with this prototype raises research questions such as creation of unique skills tasks for team interaction and evaluation methodologies for multiple test takers.


Session: Poster Presentation

Program Number: ETP067

197

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