[Training of surgeons in laparoscopic surgery of the digestive system. Experience in 1,818 interventions without...

Since the beginning or laparoscopic surgery on University of Sao Paulo Medical School Clinics Hospital, the Digestive Surgery Division established an educational program for surgeons of the alimentary tract.

The course structure includes the information on medical school, extension in laparoscopic surgery league, and surgical formation during the residence, mainly in the fourth year, with a three months period in the Laparoscopic Surgery Unit.

This model of surgical formation is certainly responsible for the excellent results obtained.

An example is the performing of 1818 cholecystectomies in the Laparoscopic Surgery Unit from 1990 till 1998, with 0.9% convertion, and no mortality. The absence of operative accidents or complications give support to the orientation assumed in our Division.

In a university hospital there is the necessity of professional formation in a well structured program, with humanistic and technical education, in a large period of rotation, but with a solid information and practical structure.