Laparoscopic simulation for surgical residents in Ethiopia: course development and results

BackgroundWe aimed to develop and implement a laparoscopic skills curriculum in an Ethiopian surgical residency program. We hypothesized that residents would improve with practice.MethodsWe developed a laparoscopic curriculum by adapting existing training models. Six courses were conducted during 2012 and 2013 in a teaching hospital in Ethiopia. Eighty-eight surgical residents participated. Main outcome measures were laboratory task completion times and student survey responses.ResultsStudents showed improvement in time needed to complete skills tasks with practice. Mean times improved for all 5 tasks (P ≤ .01). Students uniformly reported that the course was valuable. The curriculum is now taught and sustained by local faculty.ConclusionsThe development and implementation of a collaborative and sustainable laparoscopic curriculum is possible in a low-resource environment. Such a curriculum can result in improved laparoscopic expertise, surgical trainee satisfaction, and may increase utilization of laparoscopy.