At the close of every academic year, the Society of Neurological Surgeons (SNS) holds an intensive training session for residents who have just completed their first year of neurosurgery residency. For the sixth year in a row, Weill Cornell Medicine was the chosen location for residents located on the East Coast.
Over the course of two days, 56 residents representing 38 programs received hands-on training in the basics of neurosurgery, ranging from injury simulation drills, Gamma Knife operation, and dissection. This year a cadaver arm was brought in to demonstrate carpal tunnel release and ulnar nerve decompression at the elbow.
Training sessions took place in three different locations on the Weill Cornell Medical College campus. In the Gross Anatomy Lab, residents were shown Gamma Knife technology, stereotactic frame placement, microscope basics, and cadaver arm prosection. Upstairs in the Skills Acquisition and Innovation Laboratory (SAIL), residents underwent surgery drills simulating a sagittal sinus injury. Next door in the Surgical Innovations Lab, residents gained familiarity with microsurgical techniques.
Dr. Michael Kaplitt, who directs the neurosurgery residency program at Weill Cornell Medicine and NewYork-Presbyterian Hospital, oversees the annual training program with the SNS. Together with invited faculty from other teaching hospitals, our own clinical faculty and senior residents assisted in teaching and demonstrating surgical techniques.
