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PennMicro: Accelerating Microsurgical Skill Acquisition Outside of the Operating Room
Elizabeth Malphrus
*, Suhail Kanchwala
Plastic Surgery , Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, PA
Background: Microsurgery relies on a unique set of physical skills that are still largely taught intraoperatively in a high-stakes environment with low tolerance for error. Each resident has a limited number of opportunities to practice their skills in the operating room in order to achieve competency. Improving microsurgical training outside of the OR has the potential to accelerate trainee's learning curves for one of the most challenging technical tasks of plastic surgery residency. PennMicro is an online microsurgery training course that offers a novel approach, emphasizing fundamental skill development and daily, low-fidelity practice to enhance skill acquisition.
Methods: Videos were obtained of plastic surgery trainees at different PGY levels performing simulated arterial anastomoses before and after 6 weeks of regular practice using the PennMicro online course and its associated low-fidelity exercises. Blinded videos were then reviewed by expert faculty for competency and skill level.
Results: After six weeks of PennMicro training, plastic surgery interns demonstrated a competency level equivalent to PGY-4 plastic surgery residents. This suggests effective skill transfer and accelerated learning outside the operating room through the use of deliberate skills practice on low-fidelity models.
Conclusion: PennMicro's emphasis on daily, low-fidelity practice has the potential to accelerate skill acquisition in microsurgery. This approach applies many of the same principles used in other high performance fields, from music and sports to aviation, to optimize skill acquisition. Incorporating this methodology into plastic surgery training has the potential to accelerate the rate at which residents achieve competency in microsurgery.
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