title: What is the cost associated with the implementation and maintenance of an ACS/APDS-based surgical skills curriculum?
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  The purpose of this study was to evaluate the cost associated with the American College of Surgery (ACS)/Association of Program Directors in Surgery (APDS)-based surgical skills curriculum (SSC) within a general surgery residency program.
  
  
  METHODS
  The Penn Surgical Simulation Center (PSSC) of the University of Pennsylvania was established by the Department of Surgery during the 2006-2007 academic year and became a Level-I ACS Accredited Education Institute in 2008. Each academic year, 38 junior residents are assigned to a 4-week dedicated simulation rotation based on the ACS/APDS-based SSC. In conjunction with voluntary participation by faculty, a salaried educational fellow is responsible for maintaining the schedule and administering the surgical skills training modules. The costs associated with the ACS/APDS-based SSC were divided in initial implementation capital expenses and annual operational maintenance expenses.
  
  
  RESULTS
  The overall capital expenditures associated with the implementation of the curriculum were $4.204 million. These costs included the purchase of low and high-fidelity simulation equipment and initial construction costs to renovate a previous operating room (OR) and recovery suite into the Penn Medicine Clinical Simulation Center (PMCSC) which has housed the PSSC since 2008. The annual operational expenses are $476,000 and include the salary for the educational fellow, disposables, and other supplies, and the PMCSC average student fees. The annual cost per resident for the 4-week dedicated simulation rotation is $12,516. This figure does not include the average cost for teaching efforts including the simulation teaching per participating faculty member which is $30,000 in Relative Teaching Value Units per year.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  The expenditures associated with the implementation and maintenance of the ACS/APDS-based surgical skills curriculum in a surgical residency program are significant. This center's experience might be useful to programs deciding on more cost-effective means of implementing the ACS/APDS-SSC into their training.
authors: Department of Surgery, Penn Medicine Clinical Simulation Center, Perelman School Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, USA.
authors: Enrico
authors: E
authors: Danzer
authors: Kristoffel
authors: K
authors: Dumon
authors: Gretchen
authors: G
authors: Kolb
authors: Lori
authors: L
authors: Pray
authors: Ben
authors: B
authors: Selvan
authors: Andrew S
authors: AS
authors: Resnick
authors: Jon B
authors: JB
authors: Morris
authors: Noel N
authors: NN
authors: Williams
mesh_terms: D003365:Costs and Cost Analysis; D003479:Curriculum; D013502:General Surgery / Q000193:education*; D007396:Internship and Residency / Q000191:economics*; D014481:United States