Surgical Simulation at the KSS Deanery

Authors

Alex Magnussen
Catharine McGuinness
Oliver Rawding

Theme

Simulators and Simulation

Category

Simulation

INSTITUTION

Background

Simulation is becoming more popular as a clinical teaching method, most commonly in ALS situations. KSS recently set up a dedicated surgical simulation day. This proved to be successful and well received by the trainees. Since the submission of this poster we have been holding simulation days regularly.

To facilitate recruitment of larger numbers of trainees we decided to collaborate with the University of Surrey. Their state-of-the-art simulation suite includes wards, ITU, theatre and domestic environments. This provided a dedicated space in which we were able to develop scenarios mapped to domains within the surgical curriculum.

Summary of Work

For our first session we set up 6 surgical scenarios and 4 skills stations. These included: TURP syndrome, teenage ectopic pregnancy, acute post-operative confusion, incidental breast cancer out-of-hours, juvenile testicular torsion, colovesical fistula, surgical airways, USS-guided cannulation, venous duplex scanning and chest drain insertion. The faculty included six senior consultants and clinicians with an interest in simulation. We also had 2 nurses, 5 actors, a vascular technologist and simulation models including a high fidelity mannequin (Laerdal SimMan 3G ®)

 

10 core surgical trainees attended and each took part in a scenario. They interacted with other healthcare professionals and actors. They were observed by the faculty and their peers via video-link and received feedback from both. Then a teaching session relevant to the scenarios took place.

Since this first session we have developed our bank of scenarios further based on feedback from candidates, faculty and actors.

 

A standardised, anonymous feedback form was given to the trainees who were asked to rate each station according to how useful they found it (1= not at all useful. 6= very useful).

Summary of Results

Average ratings (Max 6)

Skills Stations

Scenario Stations

Conclusion

1)    It was a presumption on the part of the consultant body that practical skills training would be most well received. However, on analysis of the feedback the trainees were more enthusiastic about the clinical scenarios. This is a trend that we have observed in feedback from subsequent sessions. 

2)    Simulation enables us to address professionalism, leadership and roles within the multi-disciplinary team. Didactic and other traditional methods of teaching often fail to accomplish this. Using the simulated patients to give subjective feedback facilitates the development of a greater degree of insight into the importance of appropriate professional behaviour.

Take-home Messages

Surgical simulation is costly but appears to be worthwhile. Dedicated surgical simulation days should become part of the surgical training curriculum with opportunity to attend at least one session every year. Funding should be ring-fenced for this purpose.

Acknowledgement

Laerdal Medical Europe

University Of Surrey

References
Background
Summary of Work
Summary of Results
Conclusion
Take-home Messages
Acknowledgement
References
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