Evaluation partner reflects on laparoscopic surgical training module

Dr Surafel Mulatu Djote, a general surgeon and assistant professor at Yekitat 12 Hospital in Ethiopia, learned about the Global Surgical Training Challenge from his colleague Dr David Jeffcoach, the lead for one of the challenge’s finalist teams, All-Safe. All-Safe has created a surgical training module for treating ectopic pregnancy.

Although he was not initially convinced, Dr Surafel thought of his surgical residents who had not yet been exposed to laparoscopic surgical skills training and believed this could be an interesting opportunity to introduce them to minimally invasive skills for the treatment for ectopic pregnancy.

“I wondered if this was even possible, was it workable,” he said.

After downloading the didactic portion to his phone, he was astonished. “I thought, this is what we need. It demonstrates that very small things can give you what you might get from [a] more expensive simulation.”

His enthusiasm was matched by the residents’ eagerness to try out the module. “Recruiting residents to participate in the evaluation was easy,” he says. “They were very interested.”

Resident learners get involved

The residents had to complete the knowledge portion of the module on their own, passing an interactive quiz before they could move on to the do-it-yourself surgical simulator. They sourced the cardboard boxes from the pharmacy, which had plenty to share for free. In the simulation phase, the residents could record and assess their performance.

At the time of this writing, Dr Surafel has not yet had the opportunity to see the residents’  using these skills to perform the procedure on  live patients. His hospital, however, has a competitive ranking of performance based on the video recordings, and these are posted so that the residents can compare themselves to others.

“They keep practicing and practicing,” he smiles. “They want to be at a certain level before they say they are ready.”

The faculty and residents continue to evaluate the module and provide feedback to the All-Safe team. Overall, though, Dr Surafel is pleased with what he sees.

“I really am grateful for the opportunity to see how these simulations are helpful in teaching surgical skills. This is an excellent opportunity to treat the next generation of surgeons,” he says.

Learn more about All-Safe’s surgical training modules here. The interactive quiz requires registration.