Clinical Skills and Simulation

The Saint Mary’s Hospital Clinical Skills and Simulation Laboratory services the Training Program in General Surgery as well as the Training Program in Internal Medicine, the nursing staff and medical students. Because he realized that surgical simulation is a training tool with enormous potential, Dr. J. Alexander Palesty, MD, FACS, established the lab in 2013 in an effort to prepare trainees with cutting-edge technology for their future as general surgeons. Here residents will learn basic and advanced core competencies, will develop and maintain proficiency in technical best practices and patient care techniques, advance and improve their knowledge base and learn to work as an interdisciplinary team of healthcare professionals to provide exceptional patient care. It is a monitored environment which allows participants to hone a broad set of surgical skills in order to safely care for patients. We are fully equipped with the most updated technology to augment and improve our residents’ operative skills.

Training modules currently provide residents with the ability to practice basic open skills (knot tying, suturing, line placement, chest tube placement and intubation), fundamental laparoscopic skills (camera navigation, transfer drills, intracorporeal suture-cutting and knot tying, and mesh placement), fundamental endoscopic skills (colonoscopy, upper endoscopy, bronchoscopy and biopsy techniques in all of these modalities) as well as advanced patient care skills (advanced cardiac life support, trauma resuscitation and numerous surgical care scenarios).

Residents are provided protected time every Wednesday morning to participate in a variety of simulation exercises which are monitored and graded. Surgical faculty and staff are available to monitor and guide with training modules and skills development.