An Innovative Penile Corporal Aspiration Task-Trainer and Priapism Workshop: A Pilot Study

Background: Simulation is a key clinical teaching tool in the context of uncommon but high-risk clinical contexts such as ischaemic priapism – a urological emergency. This initiative aims to develop a novel, low-cost priapism task-trainer as part of a priapism workshop to boost confidence and knowledge of urology resident doctors in the aetiology and management of priapism. Methods: A workshop comprising a 30-minute presentation on priapism aetiology and management, and 45-minute practical component, was delivered to a group of 6 urology resident doctors as part of the local departmental teaching programme. Consultant oversight in preparation and delivery of the session was used for content quality-assurance. The practical workshop component focussed on corporal aspiration utilising an innovative design of a priapism task-trainer with easily sourced and low-cost primary materials, short assembly time and acceptable fidelity with real-world clinical presentations. Results: Pre (N=5) /post (N=4) session responses showed increase in 10-point Likert scale median confidence scores in priapism aetiology (3 increased to 8) and management (2 to 8.5). Knowledge scores in aetiology and management were similar pre-post session (60% vs 63% average clinical scenario scores). Comments on the task-trainer showed participants valued the realism, accuracy, ease-of-use and interactivity that the task-trainer enabled. To improve, participants commented on longer time for practice. Discussion: This novel priapism workshop and corporal aspiration task-trainer represent a feasible, low-cost, realistic tool for boosting confidence of urology residents in priapism management, including corporal aspiration. Objective assessment of aspiration skills and knowledge scores should be considered in future larger-scale studies.