Evaluation of Surgical Simulator for Practicing a Vascular Anastomosis

Study Overview
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Brief Summary
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To determine if practicing an aorto-saphenous vein anastomosis on a low-fidelity surgical simulator allows trainees to produce a higher quality anastomosis in a shorter period of time, than a group that only learns by watching a video.

Detailed Description
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For many years, surgical training has been considered an apprenticeship, where the training experiences of residents, have been in real operative settings on living patients. We propose a study to demonstrate that - a low-fidelity simulation of an aorta-proximal vein graft anastomosis as in heart bypass surgery, using anatomical replicates (a special hydrogel polymer with properties similar to human vascular tissue) - is an effective, low-cost simulator for learning this surgical skill, and will provide the trainee with the ability to perform a better anastomosis in a shorter period of time. Hypothesis: Practicing an aorto-saphenous vein anastomosis on a low-fidelity surgical simulator will advance the trainees' learning curve. This will allow trainees to produce a higher quality anastomosis in a shorter period of time, than a group that only learns by watching a video and will lead to enhanced patient safety.

Official Title
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Benefits of a Surgical Skills Lab Vascular Anastomosis Simulator: A Randomized Controlled Trial

Conditions
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Education, Medical

Intervention / Treatment
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* Device: Surgical simulator to practice vascular anastomosis


Participation Criteria
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Eligibility Criteria
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Inclusion Criteria: 1st year surgical resident at The University of Western Ontario Anastomosis naive - the subject must not have performed a human vascular anastomosis in the past (it is acceptable if they have observed one being performed in the past) Exclusion Criteria: Completed a human vascular anastomosis as the primary operator/surgeon in the past

Ages Eligible for Study
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Minimum Age: 18 Years

Sexes Eligible for Study
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All

Accepts Healthy Volunteers
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Accepts Healthy Volunteers

Study Plan
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How is the study designed?
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Design Details

Primary Purpose: Other
Allocation: Randomized
Intervention Model: Parallel Assignment
Masking: Double


Arms and Interventions

| Intervention/Treatment |
| --- |
|Device: Surgical simulator to practice vascular anastomosis|nan|

What is the study measuring?
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Primary Outcome Measures

| Outcome Measure | Measure Description | Time Frame |
| --- | --- | --- |
| Quality of final vascular anastomosis based on validated scale |  |  | 

Secondary Outcome Measures

| Outcome Measure | Measure Description | Time Frame |
| --- | --- | --- |
| Global rating of operative skill based on validated scale (final anastomosis) |  |  | 
| Time taken to complete final anastomosis |  |  | 
| Time taken to complete initial and final anastomosis (experimental group only) |  |  | 
| Anastomotic leakage for final anastomosis |  |  | 
| Anastomotic patency for final anastomosis |  |  | 

 Terms related to the study
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Keywords Provided by Centre Hospitalier Valida
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Surgical education, Vascular anastomosis, Simulator, Randomized controlled trial