Historically 1st course of Basics of Laparoscopy on Box and Virtual Simulators I took place at SIMU

We have continued the tradition of laparoscopic courses organized by the First Virtual Surgery Simulation Centre at the First Department of Surgery, the Faculty of Medicine of Masaryk University, since 2014.

The course brought together five doctors (surgeons) from both Bohemia and Moravia. The lecturers of the course were MUDr. Zdeněk Chovanec Ph.D. and MUDr. Jakub Habr.

We started the first day with a short presentation focused on the possibilities of training young surgeons and simulation as a teaching technique. Different types of simulators were presented with their advantages and shortcomings, because as we know, there is no perfect laparoscopy simulator. Finally, the Simulation Centre was presented in its complexity.

The course was divided into blocks of practical training and presentation. In the practical part, the work with the camera was mainly trained on virtual reality simulators with 0- and 30-degree optics. Subsequently, each participant completed a basic skills course with training in the coordination of movement of both hands, head and feet. On the boxing simulators, two-handed coordination was mainly trained through a plethora of manual exercises. In the theoretical part, presentations on Capnoperitoneum, Laparoscopic Appendectomy, Laparoscopic Cholecystectomy were given with an insight into practice and a sequence of short videos from the operating room highlighting Tips and Tricks in Laparoscopy.

As each participant had their own simulator, it was possible to adapt individual exercises to their manual skills, i.e. it was a tailor-made course.

During the course, each participant performed several laparoscopic appendectomies and cholecystectomies on virtual reality simulators and learned the basics of laparoscopic suturing and knotting in box simulators.

If you like the course content, keep an eye on the SIMU website, since we are preparing the next course for autumn 2022.