PP 143. An Effective, Easy-To-Make Haemostasis Simulator

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M. Gandini, G. Giusto, F. Comino

17:12 - 17:18h at Lanchid Room

Categories: Poster Session , Surgical Education and Simulation

Session: Poster II (P5) - Innovation / Education

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Background
Many skills in open surgery need to be practiced to achieve self-confidence and good technique. Among these, correctly placing ligatures on vessels to assure haemostasis is paramount. Aim of this study is to describe an easy-to-make haemostasis simulator that can provide hints about precision and effectiveness of vessel ligature placement.

Material and Methods
Materials commonly found in every hospital or clinic were used to build the simulator. These are: a column manometer, a 500 ml saline bag, two intravenous fluid lines, a three way stopcock, a syringe and a penrose drainage (6 mm diameter). The simulator has been tested on final year students of veterinary medicine; they performed 40 knots each and "haemostasis" was verified by absence of pressure indicated by the manometer. At the end of the training period, students were asked to fill out a questionnaire to evaluate the simulator in terms of improvements in security and technique of knots realization.

Result
The simulator was effective in objectively evaluating the students' ability to place ligatures on vessels. After training with this model, students skills were improved as well as their self-confidence in placing effective haemostatic sutures. They assigned a mean scores of 8,5/10 for the simulator overall assessment, compared to a 6,5/10 for cadaver training.

Conclusion
The simulator resulted reliable and effective in providing the "feel" to properly close a vessel. The model was effective to teach basic surgical skill in open surgery with a very low cost for construction.