Evaluation of surgical models for training veterinary students to perform enterotomies.

The research paper is a study comparing different surgical models for training veterinary students in performing enterotomies, a type of gastrointestinal surgery. The paper concluded that using a cadaver intestine for training was the most similar to live intestine surgery, while synthetic models could be used if a cadaver wasn’t available.

Research Methodology

• The study is a prospective and randomized one, involving 59 second-year veterinary students and 19 faculty surgeons/surgery residents.
• The participants of the study were tasked with performing an enterotomy, a surgical procedure involving an incision into the intestines, on three different models – an equine cadaver intestine, a SurgiReal small intestine simulator, and a SynDaver canine bowel simulator.
• After performing the surgeries, the participants were then asked to fill out a survey comparing the models to a real-life surgery scenario, either an enterotomy performed on an anesthetized pig (for the students) or their own experiences with intestinal surgery (for the faculty and residents).

Results Analysis

• The research findings revealed that both the student and faculty/resident groups rated the cadaver intestine model as the most similar to a live intestine surgery. This was based on factors such as incision, tissue handling, mucosal eversion, needle passage, knot tying, and overall preparedness for live intestine surgery.
• The students rated the SynDaver synthetic model to be more like a live intestine surgery for incisions, while they felt the SurgiReal simulator was closer to the real-life procedure for mucosal eversion. However, for the faculty and residents, there was no difference noted between the SurgiReal and SynDaver models.
• Most notably, the faculty and surgery residents recommended the cadaver intestine model as the best training tool for students learning to perform enterotomies.

Conclusions

• The study concluded that the cadaver intestine was the model that most closely resembled a live intestine surgery for all the variables tested.
• The SurgiReal and SynDaver synthetic models were found to be comparable to each other but failed to simulate live intestine surgery as closely as the cadaver intestine model.
• The researchers pointed out that in scenarios where cadaver intestine is not available, the SurgiReal and SynDaver synthetic models could serve as adequate alternatives for teaching veterinary students how to perform enterotomies.