Reduced Cost Training Program in Minimally Invasive Surgery

Minimally Invasive Surgery (MIS) procedures are now considered mainstay practice in the best hospitals word-wide. Despite its benefits, high costs and increased hazards appear as disadvantages for this technology. Suboptimal surgeon performance is a major hazard in many centers and can be overcome by an adequate training program. This work describes a reduced cost Training Program (TP) composed of three levels of theory and practice activities to improve the skills of the surgeons in MIS. The basic level is composed by 1 h of lessons on the videosurgery setup, optics and instruments, and a practice lessons composed of eight exercises in inanimate models. The intermediary level consists of 1 h of theory with 6 h of practice exercises in electrosurgery (chicken leg) and 4 h of laparoscopic suture in Neoderma simulation pieces. The third (advanced) level, consists of a hysterectomy in a living animal (pig). The investment in permanent assets for the basic and intermediary levels is roughly US$ 12,000,00; and for the advanced level, US$ 180,00 are needed per procedure. This TP has been applied in a multidisciplinary program involving medicine and clinical engineering areas in a University Woman's Hospital. Twenty-one medical residents started the program and 10 completed all levels.