PCOM General Surgery Residents have access to a wide range of simulators and training models in the state of the art Simmy Ginsberg Robotic Simulation Suite, located on the PCOM campus.
These simulators include a robotic "trauma man" STAN, laparoscopic box trainers, central venous catheter models, intubation models, colonoscopy & endoscopy video trainers and the LAP Mentor, a laparoscopic video trainer that allows residents to practice basic laparoscopic skills as well as complete full operations, complete with unexpected complications and anatomical variants.
New to the Simulation Lab is the ANGIO Mentor, an endovascular trainer which allows residents to practice cardiac catheterizations, vascular stenting procedures and vascular angioplasty procedures. This simulator allows the operator to choose from a variety of catheters and endovascular equipment that are identical to those used in current practice.
Junior residents are required to log a designated number of hours on these simulators and demonstrate both proficiency and improvement in performance throughout their training.
The efficacy of these training models, particularly in the procedural aspects of surgical trianing, have been shown in several published studies.
