Optimising the educational utility of live tissue training in trauma surgery

Live tissue training (LTT) refers to the use of live anaesthetised animals for the purpose of medical education. It is a type of simulation training that is contentious, and there is an ethical imperative for educators to justify the use of animals. This should include scrutinising educational practices. The authors' aim was to explore learners' and educators' experiences of LTT for surgical learning, employing simulation theory to analyse how LTT can be optimised as a simulated learning event.

This study used semi-structured interviews to generate data from fifteen physicians who had participated in LTT as learners or educators. The data were thematically analysed using the Framework Method.

Suggestions on how LTT could be optimised were discussed by the participants across three themes: Planning, Delivering, and Experiencing LTT. The Planning theme provides context into what specific learning aims LTT should be used for, and whom this type of learning would benefit. The Delivering theme centred around the idea of delivering the curriculum content using various pedagogic methods and framing the animal as a patient rather than a model. The Experiencing theme describes the learner's experience of clinical reality and the importance of real-life survival of the animal during training.

These themes along with simulation theory have been used to create a series of recommendations about how LTT could be optimised to ensure educational quality. Key recommendations include clarifying which learners should attend, restructuring courses to include a brief and debrief, teaching technical and non-technical skills in tandem, and focusing learning on the animal as a patient, in order to promote a realistic experience.