The Impact of a Laparoscopic Surgery Training Course in a Developing Country.

INTRODUCTION: Surgeons training junior colleagues to perform laparoscopic surgery find the 'apprenticeship' model of surgical training inadequate. Therefore, the use of training courses involving simulation have become an important way to teach laparoscopic surgery. An annual laparoscopic surgery course began in Nepal in 2013. It is difficult to assess the impact of the course on trainees and demonstrate a subsequent improvement in patient outcomes, but one way is to ask delegates for reflections on their experience of the course and their perception of how it has impacted patients. METHODS: The course involved simulation and patient-based training. A questionnaire to collect quantitative data and qualitative comments was sent to all 80 previous delegates (at least 9 months after the course) in September 2018. RESULTS: Twenty-eight delegates responded. The majority demonstrated career progression since completing the course (independent practitioners increased from 7 to 50%) and progression in their practice (18% had performed >20 laparoscopic procedures at the time of the course, vs 70% at the time of the questionnaire). All delegates felt that laparoscopic training is useful in the Nepalese context. Delegates felt the course was useful in developing skills, and improving confidence and safety. Suggestions for improvement included lengthening the course and increasing the amount of practical exposure. CONCLUSION: There was a positive outcome of the course to Kirkpatrick level 2. There is a need to expand the course's scope to an advanced level, increase its length and start courses in other centres, to ensure the most possible benefit to patients.

Transabdominal Pre-peritoneal Mesh Repair versus Lichtenstein's Hernioplasty.

BACKGROUND: In the era of minimal invasive surgery, hernia repair has seen a paradigm shift from open to laparoscopic technique. However, superiority of laparoscopic repair over open repair is still controversial. Available literatures have shown laparoscopic technique to be better in term of post-operative pain and early return to work. METHODS: In this prospective study, a total of 102 patients aged 21-78 years with inguinal hernia were recruited and enrolled into two comparative groups, namely Lichtenstein's and Transabdominal pre-peritoneal, and each group containing 51 participants. Hospital ethical committee approval and written informed consent from patients was obtained. Primarily, the duration of operation, post-operative pain and complication, and quality of life after surgery was compared between the two different approaches of hernia repair. RESULTS: The study results demonstrated a statistically significant superiority of trans abdominal pre-peritoneal repair over Lichtenstein's hernioplasty in terms of post operative pain (2.00±0.63 vs 3.90±0.74 VAS score, P value<0.001), hospital stay (2.33±0.62 vs 2.96±0.20 days, P value <0.001) and quality of life with early return to normal work (13.39±0.60 vs 17.88±0.86 days, P value <0.001); whereas a prolonged operative time was seen in transabdominal pre-peritoneal repair (96.08±27.08 vs 42.55±5.95 mins, P value <0.001). CONCLUSIONS: This study has shown that transabdominal pre-peritoneal repair is better than Lichtenstein's in respect to post-operative pain, quality of life and post-operative complication. However, it has prolonged operative duration than conventional method.