Teaching and learning laparoendoscopic hernia in the Philippines problems and solutions

Abstract

Laparoendoscopic hernia surgery in the Philippines has been constantly growing in terms of training, education, and skills acquisition. Since hernia surgery is one of the more common operations done by a general surgeon, it is important to know the current problems, pitfalls, and solutions in the training of a laparoendoscopic hernia surgeon. The pitfalls identified are the following: (1) absence of a standard curriculum for teaching laparoendoscopic hernia surgery, (2) no hernia centers for education and teaching, (3) inadequate hernia specialists who will train, (4) opportunities for laparoscopic hernia surgery education for surgeons and residents, (5) competency assessment of trained laparoendoscopic hernia surgeons, (6) centers and trainers for more advanced laparoendoscopic hernia surgery, and (7) lack of credentialing and auditing of laparoendoscopic hernia surgery outcomes. Hernia surgery is one of the fastest developing subspecialties in general surgery. With more complex operations being done and more advanced techniques being utilized. It is recommended that there has to be a standardized way of teaching and learning the different types of hernia surgical conditions and their management. From basic to advanced hernia operations, a standardized curriculum and a standardized form of teaching are recommended in order to have good outcomes. Finally, all of these have to evaluated and audited in order to assure good surgical outcomes for both the surgeon and the patients.

Keywords

• hernia
• laparoscopic
• training