Bazinių laparoskopinių įgūdžių įgijimas studijuojant mediciną

Background / objective The study was carried out to evaluate the potential use of laparoscopic simulators to enhance basic laparoscopic skills until proficiency is reached. Materials and methods The study participants were divided into two groups according to their experience in laparoscopic procedures: no prior experience (group A; n = 16) and laparoscope navigation experience (group B; n = 16). All the participants performed nine attempts of three basic laparoscopic skill tasks (“Instrument navigation”, “Cutting”, “Clip applying”) on the LapSim® simulator during three sessions within one month. The distribution of practice sessions was standardized by performing three attempts for each task per session and no more than one session per week. The assessment of laparoscopic skills was based on the cumulative score for each task measured by the computer system. Results Trainees in the group A were younger (22.2 ± 1.3 vs. 26.1 ± 1.3 years, P < 0.001). There were statistically significant differences in cumulative scores for all three tasks after the first five attempts between the two groups (P < 0.001). Comparison of the cumulative scores for the task “Instrument navigation” after the sixth attempt (P = 0.073), for the task “Clip applying” after the seventh attempt (P = 0.287), and for the task “Cutting” after the eighth attempt (P = 0.080) showed no significant differences among the study groups. Conclusions The results indicated that a group of trainees with no prior laparoscopic experience acquired the basic laparoscopic skills significantly faster. Proficiency in the laparoscopic basic tasks was achieved within 6–8 repetitions in both groups. These findings suggest that training of practical skills in using laparoscopic simulators should be integrated into medical education much earlier