The intercollegiate Basic Surgical Skills Course.
OBJECTIVE
This study was undertaken to establish residents' progress in minimal access surgery (MAS) after attending the Intercollegiate Basic Surgical Skills Course (BSSC) by means of the Xitact LS500 laparoscopy simulator assessment program.


METHODS
Twenty-five surgical residents attended the BSSC in Leiden and Eindhoven, The Netherlands. Before and after the course, participants performed three "runs" on the Xitact LS500, featuring a standardized laparoscopic cholecystectomy clip-and-cut task. A control group of 25 interns not attending the course also performed two sessions of three runs. Parameters of interest were "score" and "time for completion of task".


RESULTS
No significant differences were found within the resident group for the parameters "time" and "score" when comparing outcomes pre- and post-BSSC. No significant differences were found comparing time and score between residents and interns on each of the six runs, except for time in run 2. Over six runs, both residents and interns became significantly faster.


CONCLUSIONS
The Xitact LS500 cholecystectomy simulator did not detect significant improvement in MAS performance among a group of surgical residents attending the BSSC.
Department of Surgery, Catharina Hospital Eindhoven, Michelangelolaan 2, P.O. Box 1350, 5602 ZA, Eindhoven, The Netherlands. mschijv@zonnet.nl
M
M
Schijven
R
R
Klaassen
J
J
Jakimowicz
O T
OT
Terpstra
D000328:Adult; D017081:Cholecystectomy, Laparoscopic / Q000193:education*; D002983:Clinical Competence; D003198:Computer Simulation; D004503:Education, Medical, Graduate / Q000592:standards; D004521:Educational Measurement; D005260:Female; D013502:General Surgery / Q000193:education*; D006801:Humans; D007396:Internship and Residency; D008297:Male; D008511:Medicine; D019060:Minimally Invasive Surgical Procedures / Q000193:education; D009426:Netherlands; D011597:Psychomotor Performance; D013038:Specialization; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires; D013997:Time Factors; D014584:User-Computer Interface