Surgical Skill-up Seminar (Northern Yokohama Skill-up Seminar; NYSS) Using a Wet-lab Training System for Clinical Residents of Showa University Northern Yokohama Hospital

Suturing is an essential surgical skill for clinical residents. However, acquiring on-the-job training and practice for this skill is becoming difficult due to the growing awareness of patients\u27 rights and safety. Thus, training clinicians get most of their suturing practice on simulators that use artificial compounds such as urethane that generally do not adequately represent ‘real-life’ tactile sensation. Since 2011, we have therefore conducted an annual surgical skill-up seminar using swine skin, stomach, intestine, and blood vessels for clinical residents of Showa University Northern Yokohama Hospital. This seminar is held on an autumn Saturday afternoon at Terumo Medical Pranex® in Nakai-cho, Ashigarakami-gun, Kanagawa, in collaboration with the Department of Medical Education, Digestive Disease Center and other surgical departments. We have thus far trained 92 participants (52 clinical residents and 40 surgical physicians) in total in the following areas: skin suturing, tracheotomy, laparoscopic cholecystectomy, organ anastomosis (stomach to small intestine), and vascular anastomosis. A post-practice unsigned questionnaire revealed an affirmative self-assessment rating of approximately 95% regarding the seminar contents. Most participants were satisfied with the group setting, but not satisfied with the 3.5-hour training time. Although hosting this wet-lab training seminar using biological models requires a significant budget and manpower, it has successfully provided a valuable learning opportunity on basic surgical skills for clinical residents