UroToday - The ability of the team to work and communicate cohesively is key to the success of many minimally invasive urologic procedures. Teaching these concepts and principles to residents and ensuring that they work effectively as team members is challenging. Just as the airline industry has addressed this educational challenge through team simulation so to is the surgical community adopting this educational platform.

This study is truly a glimpse at the potential benefits of simulated OR team training. Even using only urology faculty and residents to recreate the simulated laparoscopic OR case, these educators at Mayo clinic showed effective crisis management of two potentially devastating intraoperative complications. The training and debriefing significantly improved the team and their performance. This provides the opportunity for residents to experience potential intraoperative complications and learn how to effectively resolve them in a risk free environment away from the patient. This can only help to make them the future "Captain Sullys" of their operating room. Imagine the effectiveness of doing this training exercise with the entire OR team including anesthesiologists, nurses and technicians.

This is the new frontier of surgical education!

Gettman MT, Pereira CW, Lipsky K, Wilson T, Arnold JJ, Leibovich BC, Karnes RJ, Dong Y
J Urol. 2009 Mar;181(3):1289-96
10.1016/j.juro.2008.11.018

UroToday Contributing Editor Elspeth M. McDougall, MD, FRCSC, MHPE

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