Setting the Bar High in Surgical Simulations

In Young Hall, faculty educate residents and medical students through advanced surgery simulations. The Saint Louis University Surgical Simulation Center holds seven dedicated machines for surgery practices, including a laparoscopic simulator, vascular angiography simulator, multiple ultrasound simulators and a Da Vinci Xi surgeon console with SimNow simulation software.

Christopher Behr, M.D., director of surgical simulation and associate program director for the SSM-SLU surgical critical care fellowship, said the center serves as a critical learning opportunity within the School of Medicine for both hands-on surgical practices and robotic procedures.

“Our goal was to create a top-of-theline surgical center for as many general surgery specialties as possible,” Behr said. “I would put us up against any center in the country because of the machines we have and the access we give to our residents and students.”

Each student is able to practice a different skill or procedure prior to entering an operating room. The center also holds new machines that may qualify SLU as a future testing center for surgical residents.

“We have a new simulator that allows us to do virtual colonoscopies, upper GI endoscopies and bronchoscopies for the lungs, and cystoscopies for urology,” he said. “It is so new to the market that it is currently undergoing certification to be used for the test surgeons must pass to graduate from their general surgery residency.”

Behr and the SLU Department of Surgery are actively growing the center to support more surgical techniques to better prepare medical students and residents for the next phase in their careers.