Residency Training in Robotic-Assisted Gynecologic Surgery

Objective: The educational objective is to teach physicians who are in training effective surgical techniques and options for minimally invasive surgery by performing robotic surgery. Design: Several educators influenced the authors' design for robotic-assisted gynecologic surgery training. It was posited that surgical education should be innovative and should include at least five aspects: (1) knowledge; (2) basic skills; (3) experience; (4) decisionmaking skills; and (5) quality performance and evaluation. Materials and Methods: The obstetric and gynecologic residency training program used for this study involved a total of 24 residents (6 residents per year), with similar to 70% of the surgical training being performed at a large tertiary care university-affiliated community hospital. The gynecologic surgery rotation included 4 residents (one each postgraduate year 1-4) and had a duration of 8 weeks. Training was instituted when patients who were scheduled for robotic surgery consented, and the residents worked under direct supervision and monitoring by expert faculty members. Results: Residents received a certificate of completion for online da Vinci robot training, completed the basic skills portion of the robotic surgery training, and were able to perform or assist in surgical procedures. Conclusions: This educational program for residency training in robotic-assisted gynecologic surgery is a structured approach to expand surgical education in minimally invasive techniques. Gynecologic surgery should strive to improve patient care, patient satisfaction, and patient ability to resume normal activities more quickly and safely by decreasing complications, blood loss, and healing time. Gynecology educators have a duty to patients to train residents properly by implementing more advanced surgical techniques to achieve those goals.