Implementation of Laparoscopy and Thoracoscopy in Small Animal Practice Following an Intensive Training Course

This study aimed to assess trainee perceptions regarding the usefulness of an intensive hands-on minimally invasive surgery (MIS) training, as well as the subsequent implementation experience. An online questionnaire was emailed to 110 small animal veterinarians who attended the course between 2007 and 2017. The questionnaire comprised three sections: general attendee information, questions pertaining to the received laparoscopic and thoracoscopic training, and finally enquiries on cumulative post-training and current MIS practice. Forty-five veterinarians answered the questionnaire. Most respondents had prior laparoscopy and/or thoracoscopy experience (95.2 %), but close to half (46.7 %), modified their clinical practice as a result of the training. Seventy-five percent of the totally inexperienced participants started practicing MIS within two years of attending the course. A large proportion of respondents indicated their need for additional training for more advanced laparoscopy (71.1%) and thoracoscopy (77.8%) procedures. Accordingly, the main difficulty found by respondents regarding MIS implementation was insufficient training (37.8%). The most frequently encountered difficulty during procedures was bleeding (46.7%), while the most feared complication was related to anesthesia (31.1%). Ovariectomy and ovariohysterectomy were the most frequently performed minimally invasive procedures in trainee working centers. MIS training promotes the introduction of laparoscopy and thoracoscopy into clinical practice and expands the type of surgeries performed with these approaches. Nonetheless, a single intensive program does not comply with the diverse training needs of small animal practitioners.