Microsurgery is a precise surgical skill that requires an extensive training period
and the supervision of expert instructors. The classical training schemes in microsurgery
have started with multiday experimental courses on the rat model. These courses have
offered a low threat supervised high fidelity laboratory setting in which students
can steadily and rapidly progress. This simulated environment allows students to make
and recognise mistakes in microsurgery techniques and thus shifts any related risks
of the early training period from the operating room to the lab. To achieve a high
level of skill acquisition before beginning clinical practice, students are trained
on a comprehensive set of exercises the rat model can uniquely provide, with progressive
complexity as competency improves. This paper presents the utility of the classical
rat model in three of the earliest microsurgery training centres and the new prospects
that this versatile and expansive training model offers.
Keywords
Microsurgery - Models, educational - Rats - Laboratories
