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Simulation in General Surgery

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Book cover Comprehensive Healthcare Simulation: Surgery and Surgical Subspecialties

Part of the book series: Comprehensive Healthcare Simulation ((CHS))

Abstract

The ability to train competent surgeons to perform open general surgical procedures remains a top priority that has been complicated by a number of changes in medical and technical progress and decreased opportunities for clinical exposure. The result is trainees who, upon completion of training, are increasingly not fully prepared to independently perform the entirety of open procedures expected of general surgeons. Simulation has been proposed as part of the potential solution for this current and growing problem. While simulation technology has made great strides in the fields of minimally invasive surgery, simulators which allow for the training of open general surgical skills using actual instruments have lagged significantly behind. The ability of virtual reality to replicate open surgical procedures in which the instruments and the tissue characteristics can be replicated in a realistic fashion providing transfer of training to the patient has been elusive and likely not obtainable in the near term. Cadavers and animals can be utilized but have a number of limitations as will be discussed. The likely near-term solution will be the use of human tissue realistic physical models designed to augment the clinical experience of trainees in a standardized fashion. While there are a number of physical models currently available or under development that have the potential to meet this need, the current expense has prevented widespread use or expansion. This chapter will outline the current challenges in general surgical training that necessitates the need for further development and incorporation of simulation technologies. The current state of the art will be presented with examples of current and near-term future physical models that have significant potential for improving the training of general surgeons to perform open procedures.

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Disclaimer

The views expressed herein are those of the authors and are not to be construed as official or reflecting the views of the Department of Defense, the Uniformed Services University, or the US government. The authors have nothing to disclose.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Division Trauma and Combat Surgery, Val G. Hemming Medical Simulation Center, Silver Spring, MD, USA

    Mark W. Bowyer

  2. Department of Surgery, The Uniformed Services University and Walter Reed National Military Medical Center, Bethesda, MD, USA

    Mark W. Bowyer

  3. Department of Surgery, Johns Hopkins Hospital, Baltimore, MD, USA

    Ryan B. Fransman

Authors
  1. Mark W. Bowyer
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  2. Ryan B. Fransman
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Correspondence to Mark W. Bowyer .

Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

  1. Vice Chair of Education, Department of Surgery, Indiana University School of Medicine, Indianapolis, IN, USA

    Dimitrios Stefanidis

  2. Vice Chair of Education, Department of Surgery, Stanford University, Stanford, CA, USA

    James R. Korndorffer Jr.

  3. Executive Director WISH and CREST, Department of Urology, University of Washington, Seattle, WA, USA

    Robert Sweet

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Bowyer, M.W., Fransman, R.B. (2019). Simulation in General Surgery. In: Stefanidis, D., Korndorffer Jr., J., Sweet, R. (eds) Comprehensive Healthcare Simulation: Surgery and Surgical Subspecialties. Comprehensive Healthcare Simulation. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-98276-2_15

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-98276-2_15

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  • Publisher Name: Springer, Cham

  • Print ISBN: 978-3-319-98275-5

  • Online ISBN: 978-3-319-98276-2

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