Surgical residents and medical students must learn both the technical and cooperative skills needed in the operating room, but teaching this skills in the operating room is costly and inefficient. One way to address the dilemma is by teaching and training residents outside the clinical arena in a laboratory setting where operations can be simulated.

Surgical Education Laboratory 

The Department of Surgery recently received a grant to develop a new Surgical Education Laboratory and Center for Minimally Invasive Surgery. There, surgical residents will acquire skills they will later apply in the operating environment — fundamental as well as more advanced skills, such as those required for laparoscopic surgery, which take significant supervised training.

Simulation training plays a key role in the General Surgery Residency Program and provides exposure to minimally invasive surgery to the next generation of surgeons. The Center has the facilities and equipment to meet these needs and provide a comprehensive approach to surgical education using the latest technologies in minimally invasive surgery. Features and programs of the Center and Lab include:

• Five state-of-the-art video towers designed by KARL STORZ endoscopy
• A Da Vinci Robotic System

The ideal environment for research in new surgical techniques, including NOTES (Natural Orifice Translumenal Endoscopic Surgery), single-incision surgery and evaluation of new instrumentation for endoscopic surgery in several disciplines

ASTEC

Simulation-based medical education uses interactive technologies in realistic healthcare settings to help participants develop and refine specific diagnostic, cognitive and surgical techniques in a safe setting – before caring for real patients. Simulation-based medical education is revolutionizing the way hospitals and medical schools train doctors and nurses and is enhancing patient safety at the same time.

The Arizona Simulation and Technology Education Center at the University of Arizona College of Medicine features an open environment for training future surgeons, including additional space for laparoscopic training for surgery residents. The center is equipped with five individual training pods that can be individualized for all College of Medicine departments and provide simultaneous instruction intended to process an entire class of medical students in one day. Since ASTEC offers training for all levels of healthcare within the college and regional pre-hospital organizations, the center has the flexibility of transforming the lab space to meet the needs of any size simulated environment.

The center also accommodates has an artificial tissue development laboratory and isolated space devoted to computer assisted surgery research projects on advancing simulation technology. ASTEC now on the second floor of the College of Medicine, rooms 2115 and 2116. 

Courses offered for surgery students and residents:

Fundamentals of Laparoscopic Surgery (FLS), a cognitive learning, hands-on skills training and a proctored exam that gives surgeons and surgeons-in-training the opportunity to assess and document their skills.

Cardiothoracic Surgery Robotics Trainer for Interprofessional Simulation Training, a new cardiothoracic surgery (CT) trainer to provide interprofessional medical simulation training and practice for cardiothoracic surgery robotics.
 

If you are interested in more information about the center, please contact :

Melissa Carton
Program Coordinator, Sr.
Section of Minimally Invasive & Robotic Surgery

520-626-2635
mcarton@surgery.arizona.edu