Construct validation of a cost-effective vessel ligation benchtop simulator.

Objective: Many benchtop surgical simulators assess laparoscopic proficiency, yet few address core open surgical skills. The purpose of this study is to describe a cost-effective benchtop vessel ligation simulator and provide construct validation.

Design: A prospective comparison of blinded proficiency assessments among participants performing a benchtop vessel ligation simulation task. Evaluations were performed using Objective Structured Assessments of Technical Skills.

Setting: This study took place at the University of Virginia, School of Medicine: a large academic medical institution.

Participants: The participants included fourth-year medical students participating in a focused surgical elective course (n = 16), postgraduate year 2 to 3 surgery residents (n = 6), and surgical faculty (n = 5).

Results: The total fixed costs of the vessel ligation simulator was $30. Flexible costs of operation were less than $0.20 per attempt. The median task-specific checklist scores among the medical students, residents, and faculty were 4.83, 7.33, and 7.67, respectively. Median global rating scores across the 3 groups were 2.29, 4.43, and 4.76, respectively. Significant proficiency differences were noted between the students and the residents/faculty for both the metrics (p < 0.001).

Conclusions: A cost-effective benchtop simulator can effectively measure proficiency with basic open surgical techniques such as vessel ligation. Among the junior surgical trainees, this tool can identify learning gaps and improve operative skills in a preclinical setting.