Description and Validation of an Innovative and Effective Hand-Shaped Suture-Training Model for Medical Students

During medical education, medical students are often frustrated by difficulties in translating theoretical anatomical knowledge and basic surgical skills (suturing, tissue and instrument handling, and local anesthetic administration) into practice. A common etiological factor for this difficulty, among others, is lack of a low-cost and easy-to-assemble low fidelity suturing model. The purpose of this study is the demonstration of a validated, practical, inexpensive, hand-shaped anatomy training model. It is addressed to medical students and graduates that wish to get acquainted with neurovascular anatomy of the hand and improve their basic surgical skills. The model requires only two latex gloves, cotton, and two different color markers per trainee to draw the course of large nerve and vessels. Construction requires less than 15 minutes. For validation, 80 students participated as volunteers in the demonstration course. They evaluated course usefulness and their own confidence after the course. According to the 5-point Likert scale, the participants' confidence increased in a statistically significant way ( p < 0.05). All participants (100%) stated that their skills were "significantly improved" in terms of instrument handling, anatomy studying, performing digital anesthesia, and suturing technique. Overall experience was rated as "satisfactory" or above. The proposed model enables safe gentle soft-tissue handling, and it resembles a realistic human tissue. Low cost, availability, and fast construction are the most important characteristics, making this validated training model appropriate for acquiring fundamental local anesthesia, respect for hand neurovascular anatomy, and suturing skills.