NARUS 2018: Immediate Impact of Single-Session Robotic Human Cadaver Training on Urology Residents

Las Vegas, NV (UroToday.com) Dr. Riccardo Bertolo, robotic research fellow at the Cleveland Clinic, presented result of the impact of a single-session robotic human cadaver training on urology residents. Training in a simulation laboratory has been widely adopted to enhance surgical performance, and there has been an increasing number of virtual reality simulators, dry-labs, and animal models for simulation-based training in all aspects of urology. Human cadavers have shown to be highly effective for procedural surgical training in pure laparoscopic training, however their use in robotic surgery training has been limited. Thus, the objective of this study was to assess the immediate impact of robotic human cadaver training with robotic surgery among urology residents.

For this study, 22 urology residents at the Cleveland Clinic attended a human cadaveric robotic training on fresh-frozen cadaveric specimens supervised by five staff urological surgeons. Before starting and at the conclusion of the training, both the residents and supervisors filled a purpose-built evaluation survey, utilizing a Likert scale for scoring.

The median resident age was 32 years (IQR 29-33) and median year of residency was 4 (IQR 3-6). All of the residents were familiar with robotic surgery, including 86.4% who had previous experience as bed-side assistant, 90.9% having performed a median 15 procedures at the console. After cadaveric training, residents felt like they improved with: port placement, robot docking, EndoWrist manipulation, camera and clutching, fourth arm integration, and needle control and driving. The supervisors felt that human cadaver training was effective in improving resident’s robotic skills (median answer 5, IQR 4-5).

The authors concluded that human cadaveric robotic training demonstrated acceptability both among residents and their supervisors. Furthermore, this session provided immediate self-perceived improvement for a number of key robotic skills.

Presented By: Riccardo Bertolo, Glickman Urologic and Kidney Institute, Cleveland Clinic, Cleveland, OH
Co-Authors: Juan Garisto, Julien Dagenais, Jihad Kaouk

Written By: Zachary Klaassen, MD, Urologic Oncology Fellow, University of Toronto, Princess Margaret Cancer Centre, @zklaassen_md ,at the 2018 North American Robotic Urology Symposium, February 16-17, 2018 - Las Vegas, NV

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