MINIMALLY INVASIVE SURGERY TRAINING IN SUDAN: INSIGHTS FROM A NATIONAL SURVEY OF SURGICAL RESIDENTS swsanelsharif@gmail.com

 

MINIMALLY INVASIVE SURGERY TRAINING IN SUDAN: INSIGHTS FROM A NATIONAL SURVEY OF SURGICAL RESIDENTS

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Sudan

Oral or Poster

Minimally invasive surgery (MIS) is now considered the standard practice in many countries. Despite that, accessibility of laparoscopic surgery in low-income settings such as Sudan is limited, and the required targeted training is missing from the surgical training programs. Exposure to laparoscopy training in Sudan is not well established, thus this study aims to describe the access, barriers, and residents’ experiences with laparoscopy training in Sudan.

We performed a national survey study among urology, general surgery and pediatrics surgery residents using a structured questionnaire. It included questions on sociodemographic characteristics, access to laparoscopy training, experience, and barriers to laparoscopy training.

A total of 164 surgery residents participated in the study, 64% were males, and 63.4% were general surgery residents. The median self-reported knowledge score of laparoscopy was 2 (1-3), and the factors that influence it were: Male gender, higher training level, access to training, access to laparoscopic surgery instructions, increased practice time and frequency and participation in laparoscopic surgery (p value <0.05). Nearly two-thirds of the participants reported disruption of their training due to the ongoing war. Most frequent barriers to laparoscopy utilization were access to training equipment and materials (67.7%), and access to trainers (64.6%), whereas most frequent barriers to the sustainability of training programs were lack of institutional support (64%), availability of training equipment (56.7%), and availability of skill labs (56.7%).

The study highlights several gaps in MIS training in Sudan. Attention is needed to strengthen surgical training through curriculum development, improving infrastructure and governmental investment.