Introduction

Medical simulation has been used as a teaching aid in diagnostic and therapeutic procedures, medical concepts, decision making, ethical aspects, and teamwork with undergraduates, doctors, and other health professionals.

Objectives

To develop a skin simulator for surgical training in basic skills in medical undergraduates.

To evaluate the acquisition of basic skills in surgery in a group of undergraduates.

Methods

A group of 90 second year medical students of the Faculty of Medicine of the Autonomous Unviversity of Mexico were evaluated during two periods on the acquisition of basic skills and management instruments for closing a simulated shallow wound. They were divided into three groups, according to the use of biological/non-biological models.

Statistical analysis

Comparison of the groups using the analysis of variance with a factor, ANOVA test.

Results

A total of 6 simulators were constructed for each silicone cartridge, obtaining a surface sheet 2-4 mm thick, with elastic behaviour and a soft, smooth, flexible and resilient consistency. The final evaluations of the three groups were compared. A difference was found between using a skin simulator and pig leg compared to the use of rabbit in the final evaluation of Sarnoff and subdermal sutures.

Conclusions

A better acquisition of surgical skills was observed when using a non-biological simulator, probably because of the constant training and easy manipulation of the model.