[The education of the trauma surgeon: the "trauma surgery course" as advanced didactic tool].

BACKGROUND

The consequences of low incidence of penetrating injuries in Europe and of the increasing in nonoperative management of blunt trauma are a decrease in surgeons' confidence for managing traumatic injuries. The Corso Teorico Pratico di Chirurgia del Politrauma was developed as model for teaching operative trauma techniques. The aim of this retrospective study is to evaluate the effectiveness of the course and compare it with other similar courses.

METHOD

The Corso Teorico Pratico di Chirurgia del Politrauma is a two day course and consists of lecture on trauma topics and porcine operative experience. Data on the first 124 participants were collected and analyzed.

RESULTS

One hundred twenty general surgeons and 2 pediatric surgeons had participated at the course. All the participants judged the course an efficient model to improve knowledge on surgical treatment of trauma.

CONCLUSION

A two days course, focused on trauma, with didactic lectures and operative life-like situations, can be a model for simulated education and useful to improve surgeons' confidence in trauma patients.