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Retention of laparoscopic skills in naive medical students who underwent short training

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Abstract

Background

Simulators are useful tools in the development of laparoscopic skills. However, little is known about the effectiveness of short laparoscopic training sessions and how retention of skills occurs in surgical trainees who are naïve to laparoscopy. This study analyses the retention of laparoscopic surgical skills in medical students without prior surgical training.

Methods

A group of first- and second-year medical students (n = 68), without prior experience in surgery or laparoscopy, answered a demographic questionnaire and had their laparoscopic skills assessed by the Fundamentals of Laparoscopic Surgery (FLS) training protocol. Subsequently, they underwent a 150-minute training course after which they were re-tested. One year after the training, the medical students’ performance in the simulator was re-evaluated in order to analyse retention.

Results

Of the initial 68 students, a total of 36 participated throughout the entire study, giving a final participation rate of 52 %. Thirty-six medical students with no gender predominance and an average age of 20 years were evaluated. One year after the short training programme, retention was 69.3 % in the peg transfer (p < 0.05) and 64.2 % in ligature (p < 0.05) compared with immediate post-training evaluation. There was no significant difference in suturing. The average sample score in the baseline test was 8.3, in the post-training test it was 89.7, and in the retention test it was 84.2, which corresponded to a skill retention equivalence of 93 %.

Conclusions

There was a significant retention of the laparoscopic surgical skills developed. Even 1 year after a short training session, medical students without previous surgical experience showed that they have retained a great part of the skills acquired through training.

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Abbreviations

BL:

Baseline

FLS:

Fundamentals of Laparoscopic Surgery

LSS:

Laparoscopic surgical skills

PT:

Post-training test

RT:

Retention test

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Universidade Positivo, Rua Prof. Pedro Viriato Parigot de Souza, 5300, Post Graduation Building, Curitiba, 81280-330, Brazil

    Guilherme M. Sant’Ana, Worens Cavalini, Bruce Negrello, Christiano Claus, Marcelo P. Loureiro & Paolo R. Salvalaggio

  2. Minimally Invasive Surgery, Jacques Perissat Institute, Curitiba, Brazil

    Eduardo A. Bonin, Daniellson Dimbarre, Christiano Claus & Marcelo P. Loureiro

Authors
  1. Guilherme M. Sant’Ana
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  2. Worens Cavalini
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  3. Bruce Negrello
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  4. Eduardo A. Bonin
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  5. Daniellson Dimbarre
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  6. Christiano Claus
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  7. Marcelo P. Loureiro
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  8. Paolo R. Salvalaggio
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to Guilherme M. Sant’Ana.

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Disclosure

The authors do not have any commercial and financial connection that can pose a conflict of interest to the findings of this manuscript.

Author contributions

Drs. Sant’Ana and Cavalini contributed to design, data collection, analysis, writing and review of the manuscript. Dr. Negrello helped in data acquisition. Drs. Bonin, Loureiro, Dimbarre and Claus contributed to review of the manuscript. Dr. Salvalaggio helped in design, analysis, writing and review of the manuscript.

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Sant’Ana, G.M., Cavalini, W., Negrello, B. et al. Retention of laparoscopic skills in naive medical students who underwent short training. Surg Endosc 31, 937–944 (2017). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00464-016-5063-y

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00464-016-5063-y

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