LAUSR

INTRODUCTION Undergraduate neurosurgery conferences are acknowledged to play an important role in bridging the gap between a limited exposure to neurosurgery within medical schools and a highly competitive application process. Hands-on workshops are attractive for any conference but can be prohibitively expensive, especially for student societies. MATERIALS AND METHODS We describe our method to manufacture a low-cost skull model, which we utilised for a hands-on intracranial pressure (ICP) monitoring workshop station at two international neurosurgical conferences. We describe the workflow for our ICP monitoring workshop utilising these models. RESULT Our model acts as an appropriate substitute for more professional simulators whilst adequately mimicking the sensation of skull drilling, dural puncture and intraparenchymal ICP bolt and probe insertion. All tools and resources are accessible from local markets and can be sourced online. A total of GB£100 was spent making five skull models and took 2 hours to manufacture by 3 individuals. The ICP monitoring workshop was carried out 3 times over 40 minutes, with each session accommodating 18 or 19 delegates (N=55). CONCLUSION Workshop models were praised by medical students for increasing exposure and awareness towards neurosurgical procedures and the sophistication of investigations utilised by the speciality. Consultant neurosurgeons had praised the simulation provided by these models to mimic the procedure in reality closely.