Fundamentals of Laparoscopic Surgery

The Society of American Gastrointestinal and Endoscopic Surgeons (SAGES) organization recently developed a tool, termed the Fundamentals of Laparoscopic Surgery, which can be used to educate and then test the competence of surgeons in the basic cognitive knowledge and technical skills of laparoscopic surgery. This program is designed to assure that all surgeons practicing laparoscopic surgery possess the cognitive and technical skills necessary to perform basic laparoscopic operations safely. This program is to be administered at a small number of regional test sites throughout North America. The Northwestern skills laboratory has been established as one of these centers.