General Surgery Residency Program
Surgical Skills & Simulation
Surgical Skills Lab
The mission of the surgical skills laboratory at Harbor-UCLA Medical Center is to provide resident trainees with both technical training in basic operative procedures and cognitive training in simulated critical care encounters as a means to improve patient safety, operating room efficiency, and the overall educational experience.
Harbor has a comprehensive skills and simulation experience that is most intensive in the first year and then escalates in complexity as the resident gains in experience. Our simulation lab hosts Fundamentals of Laparoscopic Skills (FLS) and Fundamentals of Endoscopic Skills (FES) trainers to prepare our residents for the examinations. We also have a comprehensive robotic skills curriculum that culminates in our residents achieving formal robotic certification if they achieve necessary requirements.
| Asepsis, instrument orientation Basic laparoscopic skills Basic ultrasound Cadaver lab / prosection Central line placement Chest tube, thoracentesis, paracentesis Chronic wound management and VAC placement FAST exam Knot tying Live pig lab Robotic skills Simulation scenarios Surgical energy (cautery, harmonic) Suture and needle orientation Trauma procedures Vascular anastomosis |
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| Advanced laparoscopic skills Bowel anastomosis (hand-sewn) Bowel anastomosis (stapled) Cadaver lab / prosection Laparoscopic cholecystectomy Live pig lab Trauma thoracotomy Robotic skills Simulation scenarios Vascular anastomosis |
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| Bowel anastomosis (hand-sewn) Bowel anastomosis (stapled) Cadaver lab / prosection Laparoscopic ventral hernia repair Live pig lab Robotic skills Simulation scenarios Trauma thoracotomy Vascular anastomosisColumn 1 Value |
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| Cadaver lab / prosection Fundamentals in Endoscopic Surgery (FES) training session Live pig lab Robotic skills – advanced Simulation scenarios Vascular simulation (aorta, carotid, distal bypass) |
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