What are the challenges of incorporating simulation training into a formal curriculum?
Before this method of training can be incorporated into a formal curriculum, several issues must be addressed. Trainees must have adequate supervision and instruction to ensure appropriate technique, which will require that attending surgeons have time away from clinical and academic duties to provide simulator training. This poses a considerable challenge under current reimbursement requirements, and a reimbursement system that provides an incentive to active surgeons to teach residents in the simulation laboratory will be required. As an alternative, training programs may opt to hire recently retired surgeons to teach in the simulation laboratory. Finally, simulators must become more robust, with perhaps computer-enhanced clinical scenarios, before the residents who train on them are qualified to care for patients.