Medical Skills Research Articles

Undergraduate musculoskeletal ultrasound training based on current national guidelines—a prospective controlled study on transferability

IntroductionMusculoskeletal ultrasound (MSUS) is integral to routine clinical diagnostics for musculoskeletal and joint disorders. This study aims to establish and validate a sonography course tailored to undergraduate medical students acquiring MSUS-specific skills at a German university.MethodsA blended learning training concept, comprising 24 instruction sessions of 45 min each, was designed based on the current national guidelines of the German Society for Ultrasound in Medicine (DEGUM). This program was integrated into the clinical phase of the undergraduate students’ medical education. The self-perceived improvement in competency and the effectiveness of the course design were evaluated using a a 7-point Likert scale questionnaire. Objective learning success was evaluated via a written test and a “Direct Observation of Practical Skills” practical exam. Control groups included medical students without MSUS training (control group 1) and doctors who had completed DEGUM-certified basic MSUS courses (control group 2). Both control groups completed the written test, while control group 2 also took the practical final exam. The study involved 146 participants: 56 were allocated to the study group, 44 to control group 1, and 46 to control group 2.ResultsThe study group rated their skills significantly higher after the course (p < 0.01). Participants expressed high satisfaction with the course design, the teaching materials, and the teachers. The study group's performance on the final written test was comparable to those of control group 2 (p = 0.06) and significantly superior to control group 1 (p < 0.001). Additionally, the study group’s performance on the practical final exam was not significantly different from control group 2 (p = 0.28), with both groups achieving scores exceeding 80%.ConclusionBoth subjective and objective measures of learning suggest that an MSUS course designed for postgraduates can be effectively adapted for undergraduate medical students. Incorporating MSUS training into the clinical curriculum is recommended to enhance future medical professionals' educational experience and practical skills.

Combining the Servqual and Kano Models to Find Out How Satisfied Customers are with Swab and PCR Services

Swabs and PCR are ways to track patients infected with COVID-19. One private swab and PCR service provider in Surabaya offers swab and PCR tests with fast results and is open 24 hours a day. This research aims to determine service quality performance, identify the causes of consumer dissatisfaction, and identify service attributes that must be maintained and improved for Swab and PCR services in Surabaya. This research uses an integration of the Servqual and Kano methods. The integration of Servqual and Kano determines the service attributes to be improved. Data was obtained from a questionnaire using the five-dimensional Servqual approach, then calculated to get a gap value and categorized using the Blauth formula. The Servqual gap and the Blauth formula's category values are combined to make action decisions. The results state that swab and PCR service providers still need to improve all factors used in this research. Three attributes fall into the weak and indifferent category, so the decision that needs to be made is to ignore them because they do not affect consumer satisfaction and are not a priority for improvement. The other twenty-one attributes fall into the weak and one-dimensional category, meaning companies must improve these attributes to satisfy consumers. Companies need to make improvements to ensure better service, including increasing the number of medical officers to reduce fatigue and queues and providing training on medical procedures and communication skills for medical officers.

Communication Skills of Medical Interpreters: A Qualitative Explanatory Study of Healthcare Professionals' and Medical Interpreters' Perceptions.

Background/Objectives: Medical interpreters support communication between medical professionals and foreign patients. However, the communication skills required of medical interpreters in the field are currently unclear. The purpose of this study was to investigate what medical professionals and medical interpreters consider to be most important communication skills of medical interpreters, and whether there are differences in perceptions between medical professionals and medical interpreters. Methods: From December 2023 to February 2024, we interviewed 10 medical professionals and medical interpreters (five medical professionals and five medical interpreters) working throughout Japan and in the United States. The narratives collected in the interviews were analyzed and evaluated in a conceptual framework. Results: Healthcare professionals and medical interpreters exhibited differences in perceptions regarding the most important communication skills for medical interpreters. The narratives of medical professionals and medical interpreters regarding medical interpreters' communication skills were divided into a 2 × 2 grid consisting of four quadrants with two axes (intervention and perspective). Regarding the communication skills of medical interpreters, medical professionals were primarily concerned with the transmission of medical information and felt that it was necessary for interpreters to understand medical professionals' perspectives and what they wanted to say in order to convey it accurately. In contrast, medical interpreters emphasized the importance of empathy and communication skills for respecting the other person and understanding the other person's opinion and perspective. Additionally, to understand the patient's perspective, medical interpreters reported that it was important to understand the cultural background of the patient and to maintain good relationships with all of the people around the patient. Conclusions: We explored the communication skills of medical interpreters and the characteristics of the perceptions and narratives of medical professionals and medical interpreters. Concepts regarding the communication skills of medical interpreters were divided into two axes (intervention and perspective) and presented as a 2 × 2 grid with four quadrants. The results of our study suggested that medical interpreters should actively intervene in interpretation situations involving foreign patients.

Is it worth it? A comparison study of medical students’ aspirations for gaining the Health Care Certificate following employment as Healthcare Assistants

Background Medical students seek early patient contact but their curriculum starts with scientific knowledge. We integrated the Healthcare Assistant (HCA) course into semester one for early patient-facing clinical contact. This study compares students’ aspirations for this learning with the realities of employed work as HCAs. Methods This sequential mixed-methods study used pre-post-scored questionnaire data, followed by post-course focus groups, and interviews a year later. The quantitative data were analysed using SPSS and the qualitative data using thematic analysis. Results The learning was highly valued with early perceptions challenged. The learning both accelerated and advanced their medical skills. Their naivety of nurses’ work within team-based practice quickly eroded; they symbiotically linked their clinical and non-clinical learning; they acclimatised to the hospital environment while future gazing in preparation for clinical learning. Early anxieties for starting employment were overcome, building resilience. Conclusions HCA training offers a practical patient-facing set of competencies on which to build medical capability. Student text-book scientific knowledge was validated through their experiences with recognition of the importance of empathetic patient-centred care. They quickly learnt and absorbed ward function; experienced good and poor teamworking; highly valued the nursing role; and experienced the every-day stresses of being a front-line practitioner.

Acrônimo baseado no monte “Everest” para o desenvolvimento do raciocínio clínico e hipóteses diagnósticas durante a graduação médica

Introduction: Acronyms can be an interesting educational tool to guide medical scholars and non-specialist physicians in systematically developing diagnostic hypotheses. Objective: The present study aims to develop an acronym for the step-by-step development of clinical diagnosis to assist medical scholars in constructing diagnostic hypotheses. Method: Classic structures related to clinical reasoning steps and investigative inspirations from Sherlock Holmes were used to create an acronym with educational-indicative content. The acronym was crafted with reference to a natural phenomenon, which, much like medical diagnosis, inspires challenge, technique, and skill to be “conquered.” The acronym was internally validated by three medical professionals.Result: EVERESTE was formulated to be used in academic settings to encapsulate the essence of medical practice. It metaphorically relates to ascending a mountain: E stands for interviewing the patient, VE for the practice of proper semiology, RE for reorganizing collected information, S signifies sensing and presenting diagnostic hypotheses developed through tools of anamnesis, semiology, and clinical epidemiology, the T step involves tests to confirm/exclude clinical suspicions, and E represents the stage of choosing the therapy that best suits the patient, always considering the therapeutic option with the strongest evidence. Conclusion: Rare clinical conditions and common diseases share symptoms, posing significant challenges in scenarios where data, whether clinical or laboratory-based, are scarce for forming an effective diagnosis. This approach correlates clinical elements, aiming to reach the pinnacle of the “EVERESTE.”

Effects of the use of a conversational artificial intelligence chatbot on medical students’ patient-centered communication skill development in a metaverse environment

This study investigated how the use of a conversational artificial intelligence (AI) chatbot improved medical students' patient-centered communication (PCC) skills and how it affected their motivation to learn using innovative interactive tools such as AI chatbots throughout their careers. This study adopted a onegroup post-test-only design to investigate the impact of AI chatbot-based learning on medical students' PCC skills, their learning motivation with AI chatbots, and their perception towards the use of AI chatbots in their learning. After a series of classroom activities, including metaverse exploration, AI chatbot-based learning activities, and classroom discussions, 43 medical students completed three surveys that measured their motivation to learn using AI tools for medical education, their perception towards the use of AI chatbots in their learning, and their self-assessment of their PCC skills. Our findings revealed significant correlations among learning motivation, PCC scores, and perception variables. Notably, the perception towards AI chatbot-based learning and AI chatbot learning motivation showed a very strong positive correlation (r=0.72), indicating that motivated students were more likely to perceive chatbots as beneficial educational tools. Additionally, a moderate correlation between motivation and self-assessed PCC skills (r=0.54) indicated that students motivated to use AI chatbots tended to rate their PCC skills more favorably. Similarly, a positive relationship (r=0.68) between students' perceptions of chatbot usage and their self-assessed PCC skills indicated that enhancing students' perceptions of AI tools could lead to better educational outcomes.

Organs-without-body: a study on the genealogy of vision leading to the posthuman age

In 1834, an American medical missionary, Peter Parker, arrived in Guangdong and established a hospital. He used his medical skills to evangelise and commissioned a local artist named Lam Qua to paint numerous medical portraits. Previous studies on these portraits have mainly focused on historiography or critical discourse studies, with little attention given to the visual thinking behind them. Therefore, this paper uses Foucault’s archaeology of knowledge to systematically sort out similar images from different periods to demonstrate how the epistemological type brought by medical observation operates and is represented through discursive formation. The study shows that Lam Qua’s medical portraits can be traced back to clinicians’ records of cases and served as ethnographic displays, similar to freak shows. Information gradually becomes emphasised partially due to its detachment from the entity in the dissemination process. This idea inspired Rei Kawakubo’s clothing fashions, while Cunningham’s dance art takes it further by abstracting information from the body, visually representing posthuman thinking. These seemingly unrelated cases belong to the same collection of statements that form a system called organs-without-body in this paper, serving as a metaphor for non-physical information to help us better understand the formation of posthuman thought.

The First Cranial Trepanation Find in a Meotian Burial Ground (Starokorsunskiy Settlement No. 2, Krasnodar Region)

A young woman’s skeleton dating back to the Meotian archaeological culture was studied during the investigation of the paleoanthropological series of the burial ground of the Starokorsunsky settlement No. 2. The burial ground is located in the Krasnodar Territory and is dated to the 4th century BC – 2nd century AD, while the burial under discussion dates back to the 2nd century BC – 2nd century AD. A trepanation hole with signs of healing was found on the skull of a young female of 17–25 years of age. In order to describe the pathological changes recorded on the cranial vault recommendations applied in modern paleoanthropology were used. Differential diagnosis was performed using descriptive macroscopic and X-ray diagnostic methods. It was possible to establish that the trepanation hole was made at least several years before the death of the individual. We suggested that the reason for the operation could be early synostosis of the skull sutures, and this manipulation was designed to reduce intracranial pressure and headaches caused by it. The article discusses the likely origins of medical skills for surgical manipulation. It is concluded that so far the data obtained do not allow us to speak unequivocally about the acquisition of medical knowledge by Meots from residents of the Asian Bosporus or from the Sarmatian environment.

Enhancing Medical Interview Skills Through AI-Simulated Patient Interactions: Nonrandomized Controlled Trial.

Medical interviewing is a critical skill in clinical practice, yet opportunities for practical training are limited in Japanese medical schools, necessitating urgent measures. Given advancements in artificial intelligence (AI) technology, its application in the medical field is expanding. However, reports on its application in medical interviews in medical education are scarce. This study aimed to investigate whether medical students' interview skills could be improved by engaging with AI-simulated patients using large language models, including the provision of feedback. This nonrandomized controlled trial was conducted with fourth-year medical students in Japan. A simulation program using large language models was provided to 35 students in the intervention group in 2023, while 110 students from 2022 who did not participate in the intervention were selected as the control group. The primary outcome was the score on the Pre-Clinical Clerkship Objective Structured Clinical Examination (pre-CC OSCE), a national standardized clinical skills examination, in medical interviewing. Secondary outcomes included surveys such as the Simulation-Based Training Quality Assurance Tool (SBT-QA10), administered at the start and end of the study. The AI intervention group showed significantly higher scores on medical interviews than the control group (AI group vs control group: mean 28.1, SD 1.6 vs 27.1, SD 2.2; P=.01). There was a trend of inverse correlation between the SBT-QA10 and pre-CC OSCE scores (regression coefficient -2.0 to -2.1). No significant safety concerns were observed. Education through medical interviews using AI-simulated patients has demonstrated safety and a certain level of educational effectiveness. However, at present, the educational effects of this platform on nonverbal communication skills are limited, suggesting that it should be used as a supplementary tool to traditional simulation education.

Assessing Medical Student Lifestyle Medicine Skills Using an Objective Structured Clinical Examination

Assessing Medical Student Lifestyle Medicine Skills Using an Objective Structured Clinical Examination

An Evaluation of the Transfer of Skills and Knowledge from Two World Federation of Societies of Anaesthesiologists Fellowship Programs.

Subspecialist training is an important part of developing human resources for health and for some learners, may require taking place in another, higher-resourced country. Despite effective learning of skills and knowledge in a different, more highly resourced context, transfer of these skills and knowledge back to a more poorly resourced context can be a challenge. We aimed to evaluate the transfer of skills and knowledge in 2 World Federation of Societies of Anaesthesiologists (WFSA) fellowship programs. This qualitative program evaluation study, guided by Guskey's evaluation framework, used in-depth interviews of both faculty and graduates of the 2 fellowship programs. Interviews were conducted remotely, transcribed verbatim, and analyzed using qualitative content and pattern analysis. We interviewed 2 administrators, 10 faculty members, 17 graduated fellows, and 3 graduated fellows now in the role of faculty member in that fellowship. Key themes were barriers and enablers to the transfer of skills, including workplace and staffing, resources, mentorship, the interprofessional team, and leadership. Graduated fellows were able to have an impact on returning home in the areas of practice and service development, research, and teaching. Our study found that the 2 fellowship programs had variable success in the transfer of learned skills and knowledge back to the fellows' "home" institutions. Contextual differences between the fellowship institution and the home institution were the main source of barriers to transfer, and fellows from different countries had diverse needs. Supporting the transfer of knowledge and skills should be an explicit goal of these fellowship programs, and as such, should be considered in the recruitment of fellows, curriculum development, and in how the success of a fellowship is evaluated. Curricula should not just focus on medical knowledge and skills, but also skills in leading change and in education.

Characterizing Spanish-speaking patients' patient-centered care experiences in the emergency department.

Patient-centered care (PCC) is an essential component of high-quality health, yet patients with non-English language preferences (NELP) experience worse PCC outcomes. Additionally, there are likely unique aspects to PCC for patients with NELP in the emergency department (ED). To inform the development of strategies to improve PCC for NELP in the ED, we sought to understand how Spanish-speaking ED patients experience care and the factors that influenced their perceptions of the patient-centeredness of that care. We conducted a single-center qualitative study using semistructured interviews with adult, Spanish-speaking patients who had been discharged home from the ED. Interviews were conducted using an interview guide, recorded, transcribed, and analyzed iteratively in Spanish using inductive and deductive thematic analysis. We conducted 19 interviews with participants from 24 to 72 years old. Participants were born in seven different Spanish-speaking countries. Participants identified three domains of PCC: patient, medical team's skills, and system. Several of the identified themes such as shared decision making, open communication, compassionate care, and coordination of follow-up care are often incorporated into PCC definitions. However, other themes, including uncertainty leading to fear, use of professional interpreters to promote understanding, receiving equitable care, technical proficiency, and efficiency of care expand upon existing domains in PCC definitions. We now have a more nuanced understanding of how Spanish-speaking patients with NELP experience PCC in the ED and what matters to them. Several of the themes identified in this analysis add details about what matters to patients within the domains of previous PCC definitions. This suggests that the conceptualization of PCC may vary based on the setting where care is provided and the population who is receiving this care. Future work should consider patient population and setting when conceptualizing PCC.

Needs Analysis of English for Specific Purposes for Health Sciences Students: A Cross-Sectional Study at a University in the U.A.E.

This paper presents findings from a needs analysis survey to determine the extent to which the current English for Specific Purposes (ESP) course for healthcare students meets the needs of this population. A structured questionnaire was shared with the students (N=180) from different healthcare departments to examine the preferability of different aspects. Many participants gave great value to ESP courses whose importance was mainly to learn medical or pharmaceutical terminology and communicative skills. Yet, the participants preferred the conversational content over the grammatical one. Most participants perceived the four English skills as important. The overall conclusion shows that the main objective of an ESP course is language fluency to be able to communicate and achieve any requirement in their career. Moreover, the study shows that the conventional methods of assessment are less preferred and that students prefer assessments where teamwork is involved. They also preferred to receive the learning materials via online or technological methods, and they preferred class activities and audio/video aids. Yet, a great number did not prefer using an English Language Laboratory. Finally, most of them agreed that being in a mostly English-speaking community at the university is convenient to enhance their communication skills in English.

Enhancing medical students' documentation skills: the impact of an assessment and feedback program.

We not only developed a clinical practice program for the assessment and feedback vis-à-vis medical students' medical records but also evaluated the effectiveness of this program via a self-assessment of medical students' competence in writing medical records pre- and post-program. In 2022, 74 third-year medical students were divided into four groups and participated in a 2-week program. The students' medical records were graded on a scale ranging from 1 to 3 daily, and the mean scores for 2 weeks were compared. Pre- and post-program, the students' self-assessment survey was conducted. The mean scores increased from 1.30 in the first week to 2.14 in the second week. The mean score of self-assessment showed significant improvements, increasing from 2.43 to 4.00 for medical record, 2.64 to 4.08 for write present illness, 2.08 to 3.89 for initial orders, 2.35 to 4.34 for signature, and 2.38 to 3.97 for consent (all p&lt;0.001). We found that providing students with real-time assessment and feedback on their medical records increased their skills and confidence in medical records writing.

Enhancing the physician-scientist workforce: evaluating a mentored research program for medical students' research competencies and intentions.

The growing recognition of the need to incorporate scientific discoveries into healthcare decisions underscores an urgency for a robust physician-scientist workforce to advance translational research. Despite the correlation between medical students' research engagement and their academic productivity and success, significant gaps remain in the scientific workforce exacerbated by the "leaky pipeline" phenomenon from medical school to academic medicine, where potential physician-scientists veer away from research careers.The purpose of this study was to assess the effectiveness of a structured mentored research program for enhancing medical students' research competencies and sustaining their interest in research careers, thereby potentially enhancing the physician-scientist workforce. The Medical Student Research Program (MSRP) implemented at the University of California, Irvine (UCI) was designed to provide comprehensive research training and support to medical students through a series of structured lectures, mentorship by dedicated faculty, and administrative support for research activities. Students were surveyed upon enrollment and one year later to assess the change in research competencies from baseline to follow-up (paired samples t-test), students' intent to use research in clinical practice (paired samples t-test), and their intent to conduct research in the future (McNemar's test and McNemar Bowker test). Preliminary evaluations indicated that the MSRP enhanced students' research competencies and has the potential to enhance medical students' research skills. However, similar to national trends, there was a decrease in students' intentions to engage with research in their future clinical career. Our preliminary findings demonstrate MSRP students' enhanced research competencies during the first year of the program. However, the decline in students' intentions to engage in future research highlights the need for continued innovation in research training programs to sustain future intent to conduct research, in turn helping to address the "leaky pipeline" in the physician-scientist workforce. Future studies should focus on mid and long-term outcomes to fully assess research program impact on the physician-scientist pipeline and on integrating such programs more broadly into medical education.

Investigating the usefulness of artificial intelligence-driven robots in developing empathy for English for medical purposes communication: The role-play of Asian and African students

Studies have shown that integrating Artificial Intelligence into robot-assisted language learning ushers in an immersive situation to establish empathy for communication competence and enjoyment. To investigate the usefulness of Artificial Intelligence-driven robots in learning English for Medical Purposes oral skills, this quasi-experimental study was conducted through an embedded mixed methods design in the 2024 academic year. One thousand and forty male (n = 398) and female (n = 642) students of different academic disciplines from the Isfahan University of Medical Sciences were included in the study and grouped under three categories. They were randomly assigned to control (n = 520) and experimental (n = 520) groups. In the qualitative phase, students’ communication enjoyment was debriefed through semi-structured interviews. Simultaneously, in the quantitative phase, once the participants watched simulcast lectures and joined in conversation with Artificial Intelligence-driven (non)-robots, their academic and professional oral skills were assessed. The collected data were the participants’ responses to the interviews and formative assessment of their progress and performance through Objective Structured Video Examinations and Mini-Clinical Evaluation Exercises. The interview results suggested that the participants had empathy in joining conversations with robots. The statistical analysis indicated that in performing role-play to teach oral skills to the Artificial Intelligence-driven robot, the participants achieved significantly greater communication competence than those who did role-play for virtual agents. Students of Medicine were great academic and professional achievers as they were significantly successful in establishing empathy and communication. The findings could open up further prospects for using Artificial Intelligence-driven robots in discipline-specific language learning contexts.

Competence over confidence: uncovering lower self-efficacy for women residents during central venous catheterization training

BackgroundWhile women make up over 50% of students enrolled in medical school, disparities in self-efficacy of medical skills between men and women have been observed throughout medical education. This difference is significant because low self-efficacy can impact learning, achievement, and performance, and thus create gender-confidence gaps. Simulation-based training (SBT) employs assessments of self-efficacy, however, the Dunning-Kruger effect in self-assessment posits that trainees often struggle to recognize their skill level. Additionally, the impact of gender on self-efficacy during SBT has not been as widely studied. The objective of this study was to identify if the gender-confidence gap and the Dunning-Kruger effect exist in SBT for central venous catheterization (CVC) on the dynamic haptic robotic trainer (DHRT) utilizing comparisons of self-efficacy and performance.Methods173 surgical residents (Nwomen=61, Nmen=112) underwent training on the DHRT system over two years. Before and after using the DHRT, residents completed a 14-item Central Line Self-Efficacy survey (CLSE). During training on the DHRT, CVC performance metrics of the number of insertion attempts, backwall puncture, and successful venipuncture were also collected. The pre- and post-CLSE, DHRT performance and their relationship were compared between men and women.ResultsGeneral estimating equation results indicated that women residents were significantly more likely to report lower self-efficacy for 9 of the 14 CLSE items (p < .0035). Mann-Whitney U and Fisher’s exact tests showed there were no performance differences between men and women for successfully accessing the vein on the DHRT. Regression models relating performance and self-efficacy found no correlation for either gender.ConclusionsThese results indicate that despite receiving the same SBT and performing at the same level, the gender-confidence gap exists in CVC SBT, and the Dunning-Kruger effect may also be evident.

Kampo diagnostic ability is specific in post‐clinical clerkship objective structured clinical examination: An observational study

AbstractBackgroundThe Japanese medical educational model core curriculum requires an understanding of the characteristics of Kampo medicine. However, there are few reports on the methods of evaluating the skill levels of Kampo medicine practitioners.ObjectiveThis study investigated the utility of objective structured clinical examination (OSCE) for evaluating the skills of Kampo medicine practitioners, exploring its relationship with other medical skills.MethodsThe 2022 post‐clinical clerkship OSCE assessed the accuracy of Kampo‐related tasks, specifically abdominal examinations. In addition, correlation coefficients and factor analysis were used to analyze the relationship of Kampo tasks with other tasks (three clinical‐reasoning tasks, electrocardiogram attachment task, joint examination task).ResultsMedical students showed significant variation in their ability to accurately assess different abdominal regions. The epigastric region had the highest accuracy (92.0%), while the para‐umbilical region had the lowest (45.1%). Correlation analysis between Kampo tasks and other clinical tasks (clinical reasoning, electrocardiogram attachment, joint examination) yielded coefficients ranging from 0.10 to 0.19, suggesting a low relationship. Factor analysis confirmed the independence of Kampo skills from other assessed medical skills across four distinct factors.ConclusionsSince Kampo diagnostic skills are highly unique, it is possible that Western medicine OSCE tasks alone may not sufficiently assess competency in Kampo medicine. Therefore, it is necessary to consider incorporating Kampo tasks into the OSCE.

Approach to acupuncture teaching with the integration of the cases of famous and veteran TCM doctors in the perspective

In the context of curriculum ideological and political education reform, ideological and political education entering acupuncture professional courses has great advantages and development prospects. By introducing the cases of famous and veteran traditional Chinese medicine (TCM) doctors and their life stories into acupuncture teaching, the ideological and political elements related to caring for patients, loving the country, innovation and development, cultural confidence etc. were deeply explored. Through optimizing the course design in acupuncture teaching, the integration of acupuncture teaching and ideological and political education is better achieved. While interpreting the life stories and superb medical skills of famous TCM experts, students are encouraged to establish good medical ethics and values, build their cultural confidence and innovation consciousness, and achieve the teaching goal of educating students through the course.

Efficacy evaluation of a high-precision simulator of posterior pharyngeal flap pharyngoplasty

BackgroundIn order to improve medical students' preclinical skills and enable them to quickly comprehend the procedure of posterior pharyngeal flap surgery, our teaching team developed a surgical simulator specifically for pharyngeal flap surgery. MethodsThirteen undergraduate students and eight first-year residents trained from March to May 2023, participated in simulated surgical training. Initially, multimedia was used to explain and demonstrate relevant anatomy, surgical principles, and procedural steps to them. This was followed by independent simulated surgeries by the students, culminating in the completion of a questionnaire. Independent samples t-test was used for statistical analysis. Results: Before the simulated surgery, the residents had a greater understanding of the surgical design compared to the undergraduate students. After the simulated surgery, the residents showed not only significantly higher levels of understanding of the surgical design, but also increased familiarity with the surgical process, and enhanced confidence in independent surgery compared to the undergraduate students. Both groups showed a notable increase in familiarity with the surgical process and confidence in independent surgery after the simulated surgery. ConclusionThe surgical simulator demonstrates high clinical fidelity and provides tactile feedback that closely resembles reality. It significantly enhances the understanding and mastery of surgical techniques for young doctors, ultimately improving their surgical skills.