Letter to editor: “Sim life model: introducing a new teaching device in endocrine surgery simulation”

Excerpt

We read with interest the article “Sim life model: introducing a new teaching device in endocrine surgery simulation” by Donatini et al. [1], and this article was presented and discussed in our departmental journal club. We congratulate the authors on their effort to introduce a new teaching device and this may have lasting effect on the teaching and training of endocrine surgery trainees including theoretical part of surgical training, surgical communication, and counseling [2]. We also agree with the authors that some endocrine surgical procedures are rare, since tumors such as adrenocortical carcinoma and insulinoma are rare tumors and the exposure of trainee to such tumors during their stipulated training time may not be possible. In such situations, these simulation models may provide the necessary expertise for the knife happy surgeon to handle with confidence such procedures, later when encounter such rare tumors. We also agree with their training evaluation methodology. We propose as endocrine surgery involves endocrinology knowledge and its application in day-to-day management of these metabolically deranged patients, simulation models for interpretation of thyroid function tests, interpretation of bone mineral density reports, and also models for management of endocrine emergencies like hypercalcemic crisis, hypertensive crisis due to hypercatecholism, thyrotoxic storm, and myxedema coma to name a few and management of post-operative issues like post-thyroidectomy stridor, post-thyroidectomy bleed, and post-thyroidectomy hypocalcemia can be useful for young endocrine surgical trainees for whom endocrine surgical principles can still remain a myth. …