Current trends in microsurgical education – review of types of training and skill assessment instruments

Microsurgery became an essential part of various specialties. Hand replantation, vascular free flap reconstruction, and cerebral bypasses are impossible to conduct without mastering microsurgical skills. Currently, the gold standard of microsurgical training is the course with living models during which participants perform basic microsurgical procedures under the supervision of an experienced tutor. However, due to high cost of training and ethical issues new training models, which reduce the usage of living animals, appeared. Widespread availability of personal digital technology has caused creation of new types of in-house training using training videos and non-living models. The key factor of microsurgical training is assessment of obtained skills. For this reason, several evaluation scores have been developed: from comprehensive questionaries filled by experienced tutor to simple scales suitable for selfassessment. In this article authors review current types of microsurgical training and scores for assessment of the microsurgical competence.