Creation and validation of a novel low-cost dry lab for early resident training and assessment of robotic prostatectomy technical proficiency

Purpose: To evaluate the preliminary validity and acceptability of a low-cost low-fidelity robotic surgery dry lab for training and assessing residents' technical proficiency with key robotic radical prostatectomy steps.

Materials and methods: Three standardized inanimate tasks were created to simulate the radical prostatectomy steps of posterior dissection, neurovascular bundle release, and urethrovesical anastomosis. Urology trainees and faculty at a single institution completed and evaluated each dry lab task. Construct validity was evaluated by comparing task completion times and Global Evaluative Assessment of Robotic Skills scores across four participant cohorts: medical students (n = 5), junior residents (n = 5), senior residents (n = 5), and attending surgeons (n = 7). Content validity, face validity, and acceptability were evaluated through a posttask survey using a 5-point Likert scale.

Results: There was a significant difference in the individual and composite task completion times and Global Evaluative Assessment of Robotic Skills scores across all participant cohorts (all p < 0.01). The model was rated favorably in terms of its content validity and acceptability for use in residency training. However, model realism, compared with human tissue, was poorly rated. The dry lab production cost was less than US $25.

Conclusions: This low-cost procedure-specific dry lab demonstrated evidence of content validity, construct validity, and acceptability for simulating key robotic prostatectomy technical steps and can be used to augment robot-assisted laparoscopic prostatectomy surgical training.