An effective, easy-to-make haemostasis simulator.

Background: Many skills in open surgery need to be practiced to achieve self-confidence and good technique. Among these, correctly placing ligatures on vessels to assure haemostasis is paramount. Aim of this study is to describe an easy-to-make haemostasis simulator that can provide hints about precision and effectiveness of vessel ligature placement. Matherials and Methods: Materials commonly found in every hospital or clinic were used to build the simulator. These are: a column manometer, a 500 ml saline bag, two intravenous fluid lines, a three way stopcock, a syringe and a penrose drainage (6 mm diameter). The simulator has been tested on final year students of veterinary medicine; they performed 40 knots each and “haemostasis” was verified by absence of pressure indicated by the manometer. At the end of the training period, students were asked to fill out a questionnaire to evaluate the simulator in terms of improvements in security and technique of knots realization. Results: The simulator was effective in objectively evaluating the students’ ability to place ligatures on vessels. After training with this model, students skills were improved as well as their self-confidence in placing effective haemostatic sutures. They assigned a mean scores of 8,5/10 for the simulator overall assessment, compared to a 6,5/10 for cadaver training. Conclusion: The simulator resulted reliable and effective in providing the “feel” to properly close a vessel. The model was effective to teach basic surgical skill in open surgery with a very low cost for construction.