Orthopaedic Surgery Residency

How We Learn: Bioskills Laboratory

The University of Connecticut Health Center is proud to boast a new six-station, fully operational, arthroscopy Bioskills Laboratory located in the New England Musculoskeletal Institute. Housed in the Medical Arts and Research Building, the lab has full-time lab support staff, providing opportunity for arthroscopic research and honing technical skills. Additionally, attendings demonstrate arthroscopy skills with us on a rotating schedule. Residents are able to practice with cadaveric shoulders, knees, wrists, elbows, and ankles.

The lab has full-size plasma screen monitors capable of projecting both the arthroscopic views being taught by the attendings in the lab and actual surgical procedures in the surgical suites two floors below. This gives residents the opportunity to watch world-renowned arthroscopists perform actual surgeries, then immediately practice the technique on cadaveric specimens. With this educational opportunity, the skills of the residents are reviewed at the beginning of the rotations and then again at the end, which has been shown to result in greater proficiency and skills, demonstrating the importance of the laboratory training.

Adjacent to the Bioskills Laboratory is the newly built, state-of-the-art Biomechanics Laboratory, including multiple mechanical testing machines capable of biomechanical tests on various joints, soft tissues and the spine.