[The design and assessment of a novel simulated training system for cardiac surgery]

Simulations can mimic the environment that refers to the surgery operation to improve the technical skills of the trainees. In this paper, we designed a new cardiac surgery simulative training system. The isolated pig heart was selected as the heart model. A mechanical device was designed to achieve the beating of heart model. At the same time, adjusting frequencies of mechanical movement could change the rating of heartbeat. In order to validate the rationality of the system, 12 non-medical specialty students and 12 medical specialty students were divided into two groups, which consecutively accepted seven-days of training for off-pump coronary artery bypass grafting using the cardiac surgery simulative training system. The time for completing bypass grafting before and after training were recorded. And the bridging outcomes of each trainee were assessed by 3 surgery cardiac surgeons using the object structured assessments of technical skill (OSATS) criteria. After training, each trainee could finish the bypass suturing in a shorter time than before training, and the scores of each trainee assessed by OSATS criteria were also improved. The results showed that the cardiac surgery simulative training system had better training effect in improving the surgical techniques, operation skills and proficiency of surgical instruments of trainees.