Resident Interventional Spine Course with Didactics and Hands-On Skills Lab

Area of Science:

• Medical Education
• Interventional Spine Procedures
• Pain Management

Background:

• Fluoroscopically guided spine procedures are crucial for comprehensive spine care.
• Interventional spine education and training quality varies significantly across residency programs.

Purpose of the Study:

• To develop and evaluate a comprehensive workshop for resident education in interventional spine procedures.
• To assess the impact of the workshop on resident confidence and perceived benefits.

Main Methods:

• A two-session workshop combining interactive lectures and hands-on simulation was designed.
• Course content included guidelines, case discussions, procedural simulation, and complication management.
• Pre- and post-course evaluations measured self-perceived confidence in interventional spine care domains.

Main Results:

• 26 residents participated since 2018.
• Participants reported significant increases in confidence, particularly in complication management and procedure selection.
• High resident satisfaction was noted for the didactic, case discussion, and hands-on learning components in a low-stress environment.

Conclusions:

• The interventional spine course effectively enhances resident understanding and skills in interventional spine care.
• This workshop can serve as a framework to standardize and improve interventional spine education across residency programs.
• Future work will focus on developing competency-based assessment tools for longitudinal skill acquisition.