Skip to main content.

Surgical Skills Lab lands new vascular catheter simulation

The simulations “solidify some of the basic skills" residents are learning in the operating room, said Chad Ammar, M.D., FACS.

Resident physicians practice in surgical skills lab
Resident physicians Steven Hutchinson and Andrew DeClerk deploy an arterial stent using simulation.

KU School of Medicine-Wichita surgical residents recently had the opportunity to try out a new vascular catheter simulation lab offered by Gore Medical, a medical device manufacturer that has brought other simulations to the Surgical Skills Lab.

During the recent simulation, four participating residents, along with one medical student who observed, used different types of vascular catheters for both diagnostic and therapeutic intervention of commonly encountered arterial disease of the lower extremities.

Fifth-year resident Andrew DeClerk, M.D., said he found the technology “super cool.”

“It was great to try the different catheters for different situations just with the click of a button instead of waiting for a patient in an operating room,” said DeClerk, who will start a vascular fellowship after he finishes the residency program this summer. “I think ultimately every patient is different so having a simulated environment helps to practice with it. It definitely helps become more efficient and proficient.”

The simulations “solidify some of the basic skills they are learning in the operating room and also allows us as attending surgeons to take them farther than we might be able to in the operating room,” said Chad Ammar, M.D., FACS, who along with Douglas Milfeld, M.D., were the two attending surgeons for the recent simulation. Ammar is a volunteer assistant professor of surgery for KU School of Medicine-Wichita and a vascular surgeon with Wichita Surgical Specialists.

residents and faculty work on vascular stent simulationThe ability to add skills proficiency to a surgical resident’s toolbox is a major reason why the lab was created, according to officials associated with the Surgical Skill Lab, which holds accreditation from the American College of Surgeons. The lab is located on the third floor of Ascension Via Christ St. Francis.

Being accredited is akin to a gold standard seal of approval from an accrediting agency, and not every surgical residency program has such an accredited skills lab, noted Marilee McBoyle, M.D., FACS, who is a KU School of Medicine-Wichita clinical professor of surgery and the lab’s surgical director.

"ACS has strict criteria and about three years ago, we undertook the exhausting accreditation process,” McBoyle said.

The lab often partners with industry manufacturers who offer complimentary simulations to the more than 30 residents who are part of KU School of Medicine-Wichita's general surgery residency program. The partnerships are a win-win situation for manufacturers, who get the opportunity to showcase their devices, and medical education programs, since they can enhance residents’ training for the benefit of patient safety, McBoyle said.

It's “a tremendous opportunity for the residents and an unbelievable savings for the program,” she said.

McBoyle considers it a coup to have been asked to host Gore Medical’s vascular catheter simulation.

“Gore has generally only done this for vascular fellowship programs and to our knowledge, this was the first time they brought it to a residency program,” she said.

The lab was a hit with the participating residents, judging by their enthusiastic reactions and questions during the simulation, said Mary Thompson, the lab’s coordinator and director. Thompson, a certified health care simulation operations specialist, said she will work with Gore Medical to bring the simulation to the KU School of Medicine-Wichita lab twice a year.

“I was definitely interested and excited to be a part of it,” DeClerk said.

Above, left: Chad Ammar, M.D., FACS, provides instruction on catheter utilization as Douglas Milfeld, M.D., and resident physician Morgan Gilmour observe.


KU School of Medicine-Wichita