The Effects of Skill Lab Programs in Training of Neurosurgery Residents

Background and Aim: Nowadays, surgical educations and training experience new problems. Legal issues and patients’ rights are a matter of concern in educational hospitals. The high cost of modern technology-based surgical education has also made the training of the residents increasingly difficult. Therefore, it seems that new approaches in the training of surgeons are necessary. One of the strategies for this purpose is the establishment of clinical skill lab programs. Methods and Materials/Patients: In this study, 4 clinical skill lab workshops were designed to increase the residents’ clinical skills in a very low-cost setting. We recruited 13 residents in this study. The workshops were categorized as craniotomy, working with a microscope, tissue resection, and microsurgical dissection. After the workshop, the residents and their attending physicians were evaluated by answering the questions about the workshops. Results: According to the evaluations, both residents and their attending physicians believed that these workshops were significantly effective in enhancing these skills. Conclusion: It seems that adding clinical skill lab workshops into the residency curriculum can improve the quality of their training and avoid the stressful environment of an actual operating room and the possible legal problems. Also, residents can learn more in a shorter time and have better self-esteem for training in neurosurgery.