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Lions Surgical Skills Lab

The Department of Ophthalmology at UTHSC/SA welcomes four new Residents to the campus each year to embark on their course of study to become Ophthalmologists. Part of the intensive training, of course, involves learning how to perform the delicate surgery that they will have to employ to serve the vision needs of their patients. Given that finding volunteers for the Residents to practice on is not a viable way to teach surgical skills to future eye surgeons, the Department decided to create an on-campus surgical skills laboratory where practical instruction and tutored skill building could be accomplished.

When the LSRF learned of this plan, the Board was quick to see the many direct and indirect benefits that could derive from having a Surgical Skills Laboratory at UTHSC/SA. So, in 2005, the LSRF donated funds to purchase equipment and supplies for the new Lions Surgical Skills Laboratory (LSSL). The facility is located in the Department and is widely used by the faculty Doctors and Resident students to develop skills and to refine surgical techniques. The LSRF annually reviews the needs of the LSSL and makes a monetary gift to the Department to replenish necessary supplies and equipment.

Relatively few medical schools offer an ophthalmic surgical skills laboratory for the students. Thus, an unexpected, but welcome, consequence of adding the LSSL to the Department of Ophthalmology was that the pool of applicants for the limited Residency slots available each year increased substantially. Thus, the Department is guaranteed a talented pool of candidates to choose from each year.

And, not to be overlooked, the future patients of the UTHSC/SA Ophthalmology Residents can rest assured that when the new Eye Docs go into “Practice”, they will already have had lots of “practice” on pig’s eyes in the Lions Surgical Skills Laboratory at UTHSC/SA.