Bronchoscopy training: is simulated surgery effective?

Intensive surgical skills courses have become an essential part of surgical skill acquisition for surgeons in training. There is a need to monitor the value of these courses in terms of skill attainment. The aim of this study was to determine the effectiveness of skills-laboratory-based training in rigid bronchoscopy and bronchial foreign body removal. Bronchoscopies were recorded, analysed and categorized by a single observer according to time to completion and four predetermined parameters of surgical error. An overall quality score was obtained by simple summation of the number of errors and determined as acceptable or unacceptable (scoring 0 or 1 respectively). The data was analysed using a t-test for paired groups. P < 0.05 was considered to be significant. In total, 20 trainee otolaryngologists performed 80 separate bronchoscopies. The time to complete the task pre versus post training showed significant improvement; P < 0.001. The overall quality score pre training was 66 and post training 17; P < 0.001. We conclude that intensive surgical simulation-based courses appear to be an effective means of training surgical trainees in surgical skill proficiency.