Cadaver Simulation is Associated with Increased Comfort in Performing Open Vascular Surgery Among Integrated Vascular...

Area of Science:

• Medical Education
• Surgical Training
• Vascular Surgery

Background:

• Declining comfort with open vascular surgery among trainees due to increased endovascular focus.
• Simulator training proposed as a method to enhance comfort with open procedures.
• Hypothesis: Open, cadaver, and endovascular simulation improve procedural comfort.

Purpose of the Study:

• To assess the association between simulation training and self-perceived comfort in performing vascular surgery procedures.
• To determine if different types of simulation (open, cadaver, endovascular) impact comfort levels differently.

Main Methods:

• Survey of integrated vascular surgery residents and recent graduates on comfort and simulation experience.
• Likert scale used to quantify procedural comfort.
• Coarsened exact matching and ordinal logistic regression to analyze the association between simulation and comfort.

Main Results:

• Cadaver simulation experience was significantly associated with higher comfort scores for multiple open vascular procedures.
• No significant differences in comfort were found for open or endovascular simulation compared to no simulation.
• Matched analysis confirmed cadaver simulation's association with increased comfort in open aortic repairs, venous repair, visceral revascularization, and peripheral bypasses.

Conclusions:

• Cadaver simulation, unlike open or endovascular simulation, is linked to improved comfort in performing open vascular surgery.
• Implementing cadaver simulation in training curricula may enhance trainees' confidence and proficiency in open procedures.
• Integrated vascular surgery programs should consider incorporating cadaver simulation into their training.