Resident Training

Future surgeons must be given the opportunity to acquire the knowledge and skills necessary to safely and efficiently perform minimally invasive surgery. The Center of Excellence for Laparoscopic and Minimally Invasive Surgery serves as a hub for primary educational programs including:  Surgeon and Resident Sugeon Training Programs, Allied Medical Personnel Training, Continuing Medical Education (CME) Courses, and Virtual Reality and Simulation Training.  These programs are designed to assure that all levels of health care personnel are well trained and knowledgeable in the field of minimally invasive surgery.

An educational curriculum in laparoendoscopic surgery is incorporated into the Surgery Residency Programs to assure that graduating residents are prepared to perform minimally invasive procedures.  The Center serves as the primary location for this resident training curriculum. First year surgery residents begin with a month of dedicated training in the Computer Simulation and Skills Lab under the direction of Surgical Faculty and Center staff. This training progresses through residency to include didactic lectures, ‘dry’ labs, and animate labs.  Residents and fellows are given access to over 1,500 surgeries from the American College of Surgery (ACS) and the Society of American Gastrointesintal and Endoscopic Surgeons (SAGES) video libraries. Additional work on box trainers and virtual reality simulators is also provided.  Residents then progress to the Center’s six-bay animate operating room for hands-on training.

The Computer Simulation and Skills Lab is available 24/7 to UM/Jackson Memorial Hospital residents and fellows to promote the development of the dexterity and hand-eye coordination required to perform laparoscopic surgery.  Box trainers and state-of-the-art virtual reality simulators for both laparoscopic surgery and flexible endoscopy are available. A training curriculum on the Fundamentals of Laparoscopic Surgery from SAGES is a required part of this skills training with testing of the resident’s skills as they progress in their training.

The Center’s unique resources are available to the medical community outside of the University of Miami and are utilized by residents from other training programs in Miami.

Fundamentals of Laparoscopic Surgery

The Fundamentals of Laparoscopic Surgery (FLS) is an educational program developed by the Society of American Gastroenterology Surgeons (SAGES) to set a standard for basic knowledge and skills fundamental to the performance of laparoscopic surgery.  The program is a CD-ROM and box trainer-based education module that includes a hands-on skills training component and assessment tool designed to teach the physiology, fundamental knowledge, and technical skills required in basic laparoscopic surgery.

The utilization of FLS provides educators with objective evidence that an individual resident has gained the basic knowledge and skills fundamental to the performance of laparoscopic surgery before he/she completes the program.