Laparoscopic Surgery Training System (LASTS)

What is needed is a more complete and validated set of standards for training and assessing Minimally Invasive Surgery (MIS). The problem is determining what actually constitutes the necessary set of surgical skills, and how to measure the skills objectively. Additionally, such metrics must be validated in terms of objectivity, cost, and learning transfer to the operating room. Furthermore, little is known about the durability of surgical skills, including how skills decay and how to best train and retrain skills to reduce such decay. What is needed is a conceptual model and objective measures that reliably assess: surgical skill acquisition during training; skill decay when skills are unused; and skill reacquisition during retraining or refresher courses. To achieve these objectives, we propose to design and demonstrate the feasibility of an automated Laparoscopic Surgery Training System (LASTS) for learning and refreshing MIS/LS skills in simulation. LASTS uses models of skill acquisition, decay, and assessment, as well as individual training models to maximize training effectiveness and minimize skill attrition.