International Journal of Healthcare Simulation

Background and aim:

There is a large backlog in surgery due to covid as well as surgical training [1]. We explored the feasibility of a dry lab simulation environment to teach advanced surgical specialty skills to learners with different levels of experience.

Activity:

Session description: We ran 5 cardiothoracic surgical simulation courses over 2021-2022 with a total of 61 delegates. We covered coronary anastomosis, aortic valve replacement, video-assisted-thoracoscopic-surgery (VATS) lung wedge resection and pulmonary vessel dissection. Each skill station ran for 40 minutes including a 15-minute description and real-time demo.

Target audience: Participants included 36 medical students, 14 specialty doctors and 11 foundation doctors.

Resources:

We used synthetic plastinated and resin printed models with modular metal frames to help with retraction and suspension of the area of interest for the cardiac models. For the VATS models a laptop with connected angled endoscopic camera was utilized. The lung models were 3D printed.

Findings:

88% of all participants were able to complete all procedures successfully under supervision. 96% of all participants increased in confidence with the procedure following simulation compared to before. Interestingly only 44% of specialty trainees described themselves as confident in some procedures prior to simulation. Of the medical student cohort 95% had not had any previous simulation or surgical experience prior.

Conclusion:

We have demonstrated the feasibility of a dry lab simulation programme for candidates of all experiences in cardiothoracic surgery. Confidence in surgical technique is low during the COVID era. Simulation improved confidence in surgical technique and must be offered more widely to enhance training experiences. No experience is necessary for successful simulation.

Ethics statement:

Authors confirm that all relevant ethical standards for research conduct and dissemination have been met. The submitting author confirms that relevant ethical approval was granted, if applicable.