Evaluation of procedural simulation for digestive endoscopy learning

Abstract

Abstract
Introduction: The learning of digestive endoscopy by procedural simulation is developing at the Faculty of Medicine of Tunis since the acquisition of low fidelity simulators and comes to be added to the learning by companionship yield in the training grounds.
Aim: To assess the value of learning by procedural simulation of diagnostic digestive endoscopy among residents in gastroenterology.
Methods: A prospective, cross-sectional study including residents in gastroenterology of first and second year, having participated in training in diagnostic digestive endoscopy at the unit of experimental medicine of the faculty of medicine of Tunis having from October 14 to 17, 2019 was conducted. Each resident was supervised by trainers experienced in endoscopy and completed a self-assessment sheet after simulation sessions. A hetero technical evaluation was also carried out.
Results: Our study included fourteen residents with a mean age of 26.5±1.6 years old and a sex-ratio of 0.27. Residents were overall very satisfied with the training with a general average for the various questions asked of 3.99 ± 0.855 (out of five).
After training, a significant progress in the acquisition of skills in diagnostic digestive endoscopy was reported in the residents' self-assessment (p lower than 0,0001). One resident felt that he kept the same level of skill before and after the training.
Likewise, the hetero-evaluation of residents showed satisfactory means for the technical acquisition of upper and lower gastrointestinal endoscopy as well as for the know-how.
Conclusion: Learning the basic techniques of diagnostic digestive endoscopy by procedural simulation improves the short-term technical skills of the residents in a secure environment, and residents are satisfied with their progress.