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LapSim simulator for laparoscopic surgical skills training

Description
The School of Medicine at the UFS acquired a virtual reality laparoscopic surgical simulator for the Clinical Simulation and Skills Unit to assist with the training and improvement of laparoscopic surgical skills of postgraduate students from surgical disciplines. The role of a simulator is not to replace training on real patients, but to train registrars the basic laparoscopic surgical skills (depth perception, hand-eye coordination, instrument handling, precision and speed) before operating on patients.  The steep learning curve to master basic laparoscopic surgical skills can be trained on the simulator before moving on to the operating room.  The simulator can be used for procedural training and team training where skills such as communication, stress-handling and complication training could be practised in a safe and non-threatening environment. Procedural training with virtual reality simulators is based on real graphics, making it realistic and true to life with haptic feedback from the instruments.