Simulation-based education for paediatric surgeons: Does it really improve technical skills?

Abstract

In recent years, there has been an increasing interest in employing simulation methodology for teaching surgical skills. Supposedly, skills achieved in the simulation arena, should lead to an improvement of surgical performance in the operating room. In this article we aim to summarise those areas of simulation-based research that relate to paediatric surgery; we present the current evidence behind low-fidelity simulation and computer-based simulation in improving the acquisition of surgical skills.

Keywords: Simulation-based medical education; Surgical simulation; Surgical training; Technical skills training.