April 27, 2011 — The Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality (AHRQ) has awarded a three-year, $1.05 million grant to the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill to study use of simulators for cardiac surgery training. The multi-institution project will study whether resident physicians who are learning cardiothoracic surgery can become safer surgeons by using surgery simulators to acquire skills before they operate on people.
Richard H. Feins, M.D., a thoracic surgeon in the Division of Cardiothoracic Surgery at UNC, is principal investigator of the project, which will involve cardiothoracic surgery residents at UNC and physicians and residents at seven other institutions.
– Margaret Alford Cloud, UNC Division of Cardiothoracic Surgery