The Plastic Surgery Foundation
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Grants We Funded

Grant applicants for the 2023 cycle requested a total of nearly $4 million dollars. The PSF Study Section Subcommittees of Basic & Translational Research and Clinical Research evaluated nearly 140 grant applications on the following topics:

The PSF awarded research grants totaling over $1 million dollars to support nearly 30 plastic surgery research proposals.

ASPS/PSF leadership is committed to continuing to provide high levels of investigator-initiated research support to ensure that plastic surgeons have the needed research resources to be pioneers and innovators in advancing the practice of medicine.

Research Abstracts

Search The PSF database to have easy access to full-text grant abstracts from past PSF-funded research projects 2003 to present. All abstracts are the work of the Principal Investigators and were retrieved from their PSF grant applications. Several different filters may be applied to locate abstracts specific to a particular focus area or PSF funding mechanism.

Development of a Standardized Microsurgical Skills Curriculum

Principal Investigator
Richard Baynosa MD

Year
2012

Institution
Board of Regents, NSHE, obo University of Nevada, Reno

Funding Mechanism
ACAPS/PSF Research Grant

Focus Area
Education, Microsurgery

Abstract
Microsurgery requires a unique set of skills that takes time to develop. Increased efficiency and overall improved outcomes can be correlated to experience and repetition of the complex skills that microsurgery stresses. Although a required part of every plastic surgery training program, the volume and variety of microsurgical cases is highly variable. In addition, increasing constraints on training hours for residency programs limit the ability to practice technical skills on patients in the operative setting. Moreover, patient safety and operative efficiency preclude the learning of these skills in the apprenticeship-style model of learning during live operations. It is important for trainees to obtain exposure to the basic skills required of the microsurgeon and essential that progressive levels of microsurgery skills be acquired before performing in the operating room. Although numerous models have been described, none has defined a standard proficiency as an achievable goal or described a learning curve applicable to the acquisition of a specific task in an inanimate microsurgical training model. The purpose of this study is to help define the utility and improve the efficiency of currently employed microsurgical training models based on the performance of specific basic tasks deemed to be important in developing microsurgical skill. We plan to define a "standard proficiency" for two well-established inanimate laboratory training models and then determine whether novice microsurgeons can achieve this proficiency goal and, if so, to determine the number of repetitions needed to do so. Subsequently, we will determine a learning curve for each of the training models to show the number of repetitions needed to plateau in performance for novice microsurgeons. Development of standardized microsurgery training models will provide improved and more consistent training and serve as a foundation of a formal fundamentals of microsurgical skills curriculum.

Biography
Richard Baynosa, MD is an Assistant Professor of Plastic Surgery and the Associate Program Director for the plastic surgery integrated training program at the University of Nevada School of Medicine in Las Vegas. Dr. Baynosa received his undergraduate degree at UCLA followed by his medical degree from the UCSD School of Medicine. He completed an integrated plastic surgery residency at the University of Nevada School of Medicine including two years of basic science research primarily focused on hyperbaric oxygen mechanisms and ischemia-reperfusion injury. Dr. Baynosa has completed fellowship training in both hand and microsurgery as well as breast and aesthetic surgery. He then travelled to Belgium and Gent University Hospital to complete a fellowship in perforator flap and super-microsurgery under Philip Blondeel, MD. Dr. Baynosa is currently the Medical Director for the University Medical Center of Southern Nevada’s Advanced Wound Healing and Hyperbaric Medicine Center, where he serves on numerous local and national committees. He has authored several book chapters and articles and has presented his work at numerous local and national scientific meetings.