UK hosts resident surgical skills competition with the University of Louisville

The General Surgery residency programs at the University of Kentucky and University of Louisville competed in a resident skills competition during the annual meeting of the Kentucky Chapter of the American College of Surgeons on Friday afternoon, October 12. The University of Louisville prevailed as overall competition champion, but individual winners were evenly split between the two programs.

The event, coordinated by Dr. Cindy Talley, director of the Surgical Critical Care fellowship at the University of Kentucky, featured residents from a range of program years who participated in one of eight separate competitions: Interns competed in the Soda Can Tie and Lap Peg Pattern Build; Junior level residents were in Toilet Paper Suture and Laparascopic Marshmallow Man Build; Chiefs demonstrated Vascular Anastamosis and Laparascopic Orange Slice Peel; the entire class tried to guess by feel exactly what surgical instrument was concealed in a mystery box; and either a fellow or faculty member concluded the event by quickly extracting items from the famous Operation board game.

There was plenty of celebration at the conclusion of the event. All seemed to welcome a return of the skills challenge in the 2019 Kentucky Chapter conference.