Training of Basic Laparoscopic Skills on LapMentor

Nowadays, medical simulators provides an excellent opportunity for learning specific medical skills, which are of high importance for the trainee to get familiar and experienced with complex instruments before entering clinical work. Surgeons involved in laparoscopic surgery need to acquire highly technical skills, which are essential for the safe of both patient and doctor as well as the effective operation. Teaching of laparoscopic skills, however, turns out to be a great challenge in nowadays-surgical training programs. The purpose of this study is to analyze the usefulness of using laparoscopic simulator in teaching and acquisition of basic laparoscopy techniques to last year medical students. In this study, 15 medical students were trained in nine basic laparoscopic skills during a 5-day training course. Amongst the many simulator's parameters, the total time for completing each task and the score for each task were selected as objective metrics. In addition, a survey was developed which was used by the instructor to subjectively evaluate the performance of the participants at the start of and after the end of the course. Evaluation results showed a significant improvement in score and time to complete the basic tasks. The developed course sets the base for the establishment of a methodology for assessment of the level of laparoscopic technical skills of our medical students.