2009 Simulation in Thoracic Surgery
Education Award Winner
James I. Fann, M.D.
Simulation in
Thoracic Surgery
Education Award Winner
Using models and tissues, the resident has the opportunity to put into practice their reading of the literature on the requisites of valve surgery. One area requiring intensive practice is defining and visualizing the mitral annulus followed by determining appropriate needle angles to optimize suture placement. Our focus is to provide a three-dimensional appreciation of the annular surface so that a resident can place the needle perpendicularly into the annular tissue. The simulation effort thus emphasizes teaching and assessing the cognitive (the ability to visualize spatial constraints and target plane and to understand the anatomy) and technical (loading the needle and suture placement without undue tissue stress/strain) components of cardiothoracic surgery.
Crisis management training and team training have become increasingly important in the care of critically ill patients. The addition of adverse conditions into the scenarios strengthens the value of the training exercise and provides a method to rehearse responses to emergency situations. With the support of TSFRE, the proposed intensive, interactive program will augment the resident and staff’s ability to effectively manage perioperative cardiac surgery events and to better communicate during such events by simulating specific and global crises in the OR and ICU.
James I. Fann, M.D.
Stanford University Medical Center
2009 Simulation in Thoracic Surgery
Education Award Winner
Back to 2009 Annual Report
