2017 Volume 27 Issue 2 Pages 223-229
Among surgical procedures for head and neck cancer, neck dissection is one of the most important. However, there have been no clear indicators of how to conduct training on neck dissection in head and neck cancer surgery safely and efficiently and there are differences among institutions.
At our hospital, we conduct surgical training on cadavers and in an animal laboratory for initial and late-stage interns and junior doctors who have had sufficient dry lab training.
However, there have been no studies on animal laboratory training for head and neck surgery. In the present study, we examined self-evaluations of proficiency level by trainees themselves as well as evaluations by the supervising doctor before and after animal laboratory training conducted in the past. By doing this, we studied the effectiveness of animal laboratory training in head and neck surgery, and found that it was significantly effective in improving technique. This suggested that improvement of surgical technique was very useful from the viewpoint of ensuring medical safety.
