Technical Notes and Tips: DIY Laparoscopic Kit

Abstract

With the on-going reduction of junior doctors' hours, surgical trainees find it ever more difficult to establish their laparoscopic skills. Basic surgical skills' courses have, typically, only 1 h dedicated to laparoscopic practice on simulators. Commercial laparoscopic kits are prohibitively costly. We suggest that this BioStatIT DIY Laparoscopic KitCCC (BDLKCCC; Fig. 1) is ideal for home laparoscopic training. By introducing trainees to two-dimensional spatial learning, important laparoscopic skills such as dissection, cutting, suturing and knot-tying can be practised. It is simple to assemble, safe, and has a relatively low cost (£25 for a night-vision camera and £2 for a plastic box). The plastic box is turned facing downwards and a night-vision camera is connected on the inner surface of the bucket. Camera cables can then be connected to a home television, PC or laptop. Trainees can seek decommissioned laparoscopic instruments from their operating department or surgical equipment representatives. A dedicated website ( ) has been developed for further free information and guidance to its use. Figure 1 The BioSTatIT DIY laparoscopic kit.