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TOP GUN LAPAROSCOPIC SUTURING PROGRAM

The Top Gun Laparoscopic Skills Shoot-Out is an event that combines fun, excitement, and entertainment along with competition, perseverance and SWEAT!  The concept that Dr. Rosser originated at Yale Laparoscopy was designed to provide the ultimate arena for the residents to demonstrate their laparoscopic skill development while promoting friendly competition between academic education centers.  Four years of development have been devoted to create a series of drills that are associated with the acquisition of a clinically related task (intracorporeal suturing).  A large database of over 400 surgeons has been collected that enables the objective comparison of the participants with their peers.  These drills and suturing exercises are specifically designed to challenge each resident's level of skill in performing tasks in the laparoscopic arena.  Additionally, these exercises aid in increasing the effectiveness of the non-dominant hand, maturing depth perception compensation, increased instrument accuracy and promoting the effective choreographed movements of both hands.  This program was featured at the 2000 SAGES, in Scientific American and on the CBS Morning Show.

The purpose of this event is to "give something back" to the residents in an organized and enjoyable format.  As director of AMTI at Beth Israel, Dr. Rosser feels that more attention should stimulate interest in providing better quality resident education in a non-traditional setting while addressing the challenge of training young physicians to deliver surgical health care in the new millennium.  The "Shoot-Out" has served as a springboard for more standardized, objectively based education programs focusing on the resident training.  This has emerged into an annual event that "residents can call their own."

For more information contact:
Julie Johnson
Department of Surgery
Beth Israel Medical Center
212.844.1413
jjohnson@chpnet.org