Development and Validation of a Homemade, Low-Cost Laparoscopic Simulator for Resident Surgeons (LABOT)

Domenico Soriero, Giulia Atzori, Fabio Barra, Davide Pertile, Andrea Massobrio, Luigi Conti, Dario Gusmini, Lorenzo Epis, Maurizio Gallo, Filippo Banchini, Patrizio Capelli, Veronica Penza and Stefano Scabini
Additional contact information
Domenico Soriero: OU Oncological Surgery, IRCCS Ospedale Policlinico San Martino, 16132 Genoa, Italy
Giulia Atzori: Department of Surgical Sciences and Integrated Methodologies, University of Genoa, 16132 Genoa, Italy
Fabio Barra: Academic Unit of Obstetrics and Gynecology, IRCCS Ospedale Policlinico San Martino, 16132 Genoa, Italy
Davide Pertile: OU Oncological Surgery, IRCCS Ospedale Policlinico San Martino, 16132 Genoa, Italy
Andrea Massobrio: OU Oncological Surgery, IRCCS Ospedale Policlinico San Martino, 16132 Genoa, Italy
Luigi Conti: UOC General, Vascular and Thoracic Surgery, G. Da Saliceto Hospital, AUSL, 29121 Piacenza, Italy
Dario Gusmini: Association of Architects of Bergamo, 24100 Bergamo, Italy
Lorenzo Epis: OU Oncological Surgery, IRCCS Ospedale Policlinico San Martino, 16132 Genoa, Italy
Maurizio Gallo: Department of Internal Medicine (Di.M.I.), University of Genoa, 16132 Genoa, Italy
Filippo Banchini: UOC General, Vascular and Thoracic Surgery, G. Da Saliceto Hospital, AUSL, 29121 Piacenza, Italy
Patrizio Capelli: UOC General, Vascular and Thoracic Surgery, G. Da Saliceto Hospital, AUSL, 29121 Piacenza, Italy
Veronica Penza: Biomedical Robotics Lab, Advanced Robotics Department, Istituto Italiano di Tecnologia, 16152 Genoa, Italy
Stefano Scabini: OU Oncological Surgery, IRCCS Ospedale Policlinico San Martino, 16132 Genoa, Italy

IJERPH, 2020, vol. 17, issue 1, 1-12

Abstract: Several studies have demonstrated that training with a laparoscopic simulator improves laparoscopic technical skills. We describe how to build a homemade, low-cost laparoscopic training simulator (LABOT) and its validation as a training instrument. First, sixty surgeons filled out a survey characterized by 12 closed-answer questions about realism, ergonomics, and usefulness for surgical training (global scores ranged from 1—very insufficient to 5—very good). The results of the questionnaires showed a mean (±SD) rating score of 4.18 ± 0.65 for all users. Then, 15 students (group S) and 15 residents (group R) completed 3 different tasks (T1, T2, T3), which were repeated twice to evaluate the execution time and the number of users’ procedural errors. For T1, the R group had a lower mean execution time and a lower rate of procedural errors than the S group; for T2, the R and S groups had a similar mean execution time, but the R group had a lower rate of errors; and for T3, the R and S groups had a similar mean execution time and rate of errors. On a second attempt, all the participants tended to improve their results in doing these surgical tasks; nevertheless, after subgroup analysis of the T1 results, the S group had a better improvement of both parameters. Our laparoscopic simulator is simple to build, low-cost, easy to use, and seems to be a suitable resource for improving laparoscopic skills. In the future, further studies should evaluate the potential of this laparoscopic box on long-term surgical training with more complex tasks and simulation attempts.

Keywords: laparoscopy; low-cost simulator; homemade simulator; surgical simulation; trainee; students; education (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: I I1 I3 Q Q5 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2020
References: View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (1)

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