The Early Bird Gets the Worm: Introducing Medical Students to Microsurgical Technique via a Low-Cost, User-Friendly, Reusable Simulation System

Background: Mastery of microsurgical technique requires thousands of hours of deliberate practice, often with equipment that is not accessible to medical students. This study aimed to develop, test, and report a novel simulation system for providing medical students with early access to microsurgical technique. Methods: Low-cost, user-friendly, reusable microsurgery kits were iteratively developed using excess surgical supplies, such as catheter tubing and vessel loops. Students were tested on 2 separate tasks, with grading via a standardized performance scale incorporating aspects of alignment, leak, and anastomotic patency. Results: Twelve medical students were tested on standardized microsurgery kits at 2 different time points 6 weeks apart with no additional training received in between. Median change in total score on the vessel loop suturing task after 6 weeks was +2.6 points (range, −1.7 to +5 points); median change in completion time was −1.9 minutes (range, −3.5 to +2.7 minutes). Median change in total score on the red rubber anastomosis task was +5.8 points (range, −2.6 to +9.6 points) with a median improvement of −4.3 minutes (range, −9.6 to +2.6 minutes). Conclusions: Reusable microsurgery kits designed with excess surgical supplies are educationally impactful tools that introduce medical students to microsurgical techniques early in their training, while also providing objective measures for skills acquisition over time.