A Novel Portable Foldable Laparoscopic Trainer for Surgical Education

ObjectivesTraining in laparoscopic surgeries is difficult due to high cost and limited opportunity of commercially available laparoscopic training. Many “home-made” trainers were reported to solve this obstacle, but they were either cumbersome or high cost, or both. This study aimed to create an available and effective trainer to enable the trainees in developing laparoscopic skills anytime and anywhere.MethordsThe laparoscopic trainer contains clamshell-like plastic plates and an electronic device with camera function, which could be supplied into a serious of laparoscopic procedures. The training procedure is detailed in this study.ResultsThe creation of the portable and foldable trainer led to the development of “home-made” laparoscopic trainers. The integration of clamshell-like plastic plates and camera function device resulted in a trainer with low cost and enabled the trainees to practice skills in intermediate-fidelity environment. Additionally, the teaching effects show that the 3DV and 3DP models were significantly better than the traditional anatomical atlas.ConclusionThe trainer in this study was built to create a prototype of “home-made” trainer with flexible features and low cost. It can be considered as an alternate way of developing laparoscopic skills required in operation room.