Clinical effects of gynecologic laparoscopy courses in the United Arab Emirates

Objective

To evaluate the impact of gynecologic laparoscopy courses on the participants’ laparoscopy practice.

Methods

We conducted 5 repeated laparoscopy courses between 2008 and 2012 at the United Arab Emirates University in Al Ain, United Arab Emirates, so as to enhance performance in the operating room. An electronic questionnaire was sent to all participants from each of the courses to evaluate the impact of course attendance on clinical practice.

Results

Of 70 participants who were approached to complete the online questionnaire, 38 (54.3%) responded. The majority were female (94.7%) and specialists (65.8%). Half the participants (50.0%) thought they would probably not have started performing laparoscopy without having attended the course. Of the participants, 18.4% thought that their operating skills had greatly improved, 63.2% felt that their operating skills had improved moderately to a lot, and 6/12 participants who had not been performing laparoscopy before attendance of the course began doing so. Overall, the course had no significant impact on the participants’ performance of laparoscopy (P = 0.51, McNemar test), but the proportion of participants who performed level II laparoscopy was significantly increased after course attendance (10.5% versus 47.4%; P = 0.001, McNemar test).

Conclusion

Gynecologic laparoscopy courses encourage gynecologists to use laparoscopy in clinical practice.