No abstract

Gender did not affect the learning curve for a fundamental laparoscopic task, while interest in surgery and perceptual abilities did influence early performance.

For surgically naïve subjects, part-task training with PT alone was associated with slight improvements in the learning curve for ICS. However, overtraining with PT did not improve skill retention, and peg training alone was not an efficient strategy for learning ICS.

In physically fit, surgically naïve students, one bout of aerobic exercise enhanced immediate learning of simple FLS skills but did not have an impact on more complex skills or on retention. The use of exercise in the surgical curriculum, or as a learning tool, warrants further investigation regarding how best to apply it.

In patients undergoing scheduled laparoscopic colectomy in a university-based clinical teaching unit, ERP can further reduce length of stay and postoperative ER visits without increasing readmission rates.