Las Vegas City Wire

The University of Nevada, Las Vegas's Kirk Kerkorian School of Medicine's once-a-year cadaver lab recently gave neophyte surgeons the chance to hone their skills.

Among those in attendance for the lab presentation were graduate medical education programs, trauma fellows and residents in general surgery, plastic surgery and ob-gyn surgery, according to the UNLV News Center.

“Overall, I liked how they split it up because they did it so there were different levels at each station,” second-year resident in general surgery Whitney Elks told the UNLV News Center. “The chiefs got to practice taking us through the surgeries, so it was nice having the different levels at each station.”

The lab was configured with eight stations to comply with post-graduate year expectations.

According to Nadia Gomez, MD, interim chair of ob-gyn, director of minimally invasive gynecology and robotic surgery, and associate professor of ob-gyn, “They’re extremely important. One of the main things I always tell my students, my residents and medical students, in particular in surgery, is that a safe surgeon is one who always knows their anatomy. Above anything else, we practice surgical skills and procedures, but we also are reviewing the anatomy of these specimens, because the more anatomy you’re familiar with in the operating room, in your surgical field, the safer you feel as a surgeon. Your confidence goes up and safety goes up.”

Dr. Jocelyn Burke, assistant professor of minimally invasive surgery, said the labs give residents the chance to practice procedures that are difficult to simulate.

“It gives them a chance to go through procedures that they need to know to be good general surgeons in a format where they don’t have to focus quite so much on how the patient is doing under anesthesia, that sort of thing," Burke told the UNLV News Center. "They can focus on the anatomy, they can focus on the steps, and they can do multiple procedures on the same donor, so they have the chance to do the procedures they are less familiar with in a safe setting.”