Abstract
To assess the acquisition of suture skills by training on ethylene-vinyl acetate bench model in novice medical students. Sixteen medical students without previous surgery experience (novices) were randomly divided into two groups. During one hour group A trained sutures on ethylene-vinyl acetate (EVA) bench model with feedback of instructors, while group B (control) received a faculty-directed training based on books and instructional videos. All students underwent a both pre-and post-tests to perform two-and three-dimensional sutures on ox tongue. All recorded performances were evaluated by two blinded evaluators, using the Global Rating Scale. Although both groups have had a better performance (p<0.05) in the post-test when compared with the pre-test, the analysis of post-test showed that group A (EVA) had a better performance (p<0.05) when compared with group B (control). The ethylene vinyl acetate bench model allowed the novice students to acquire suture skills faster when compared to the traditional model of teaching.
Highlights
Given that general practitioners are routinely faced with minor surgery interventions[1,2,3,4] and that most physicians do not get satisfactory basic surgical skills during their academic formation[5], it is necessary to establish a training program aimed at the teaching and improving of these technical skills to students in training[1,2,3,4,5]
The main focus of this study was to determine whether training on the ethylene-vinyl acetate (EVA) model, considered as of low-fidelity, can be used/recommended as a tool for teaching sutures during the medical undergraduation, through a comparative analysis with the faculty-directed learning based on didactic materials
Three students were able to perform simple interrupted sutures, with a total of 5 stitches and only one of them held two half-buried mattress sutures. Since these few students had better performances in the post-test, we can infer that this form of teaching can determine a gain of skills; this corroborates the previously described subjective feeling that before the introduction of EVA, some students could perform minor procedures under supervision of the faculty mentor
Summary
Given that general practitioners are routinely faced with minor surgery interventions[1,2,3,4] and that most physicians do not get satisfactory basic surgical skills during their academic formation[5], it is necessary to establish a training program aimed at the teaching and improving of these technical skills to students in training[1,2,3,4,5] In this context, as some practical activities with patients may infringe moral, ethical and legal aspects[6], the training of technical skills outside the operating room based on simulation is becoming widely used in medical education[6,7,8]. The difficult access to high-fidelity virtual reality simulators and their high costs[7,8] hinder their use, especially in developing countries[9,10]
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