• Jack Rock, Roberta Glick, Isabelle M Germano, Robert Dempsey, John Zervos, Tyler Prentiss, Matthew Davis, Ernest Wright, Kyi Hlaing, Myat Thu, Zaw Wai Soe, and Win Myaing.
• Department of Neurosurgery, Henry Ford Hospital, Detroit, Michigan, USA. Electronic address: jrock1@hfhs.org.
• World Neurosurg. 2018 May 1; 113: e239-e246.

BackgroundFor the first time in Southeast Asia, a Fundamentals of Neurosurgery Boot Camp was held at the University of Medicine 1 in Yangon, Myanmar, February 24-26, 2017. The aim of this course was to teach and train fundamental skills to neurosurgery residents.MethodsThe Myanmar Neurosurgical Society, Foundation for International Education in Neurosurgery, Society for Neurological Surgeons, The University of Medicine 1 in Yangon, Myanmar, and the Henry Ford Department of Neurosurgery developed a 2-day resident training course. Day 1 activities consisted of lectures by faculty, small group case discussions, and industry-supported demonstrations of surgical techniques. Day 2 activities consisted of hands-on skill stations for common neurosurgical procedures with each station supervised by attending faculty. Written evaluations were distributed before the meeting, immediately after the meeting, and 6 months after the meeting.ResultsBoot camp attendees included 40 residents and 24 neurosurgical faculty from Myanmar, Cambodia, Nepal, Singapore, South Korea, Thailand, and Vietnam. There were 35 evaluations completed before the boot camp, 34 completed immediately after boot camp, and 20 completed 6 months after boot camp. Knowledge of participants improved from 62.75% before boot camp to 71.50% 6 months after boot camp (P = 0.046).ConclusionsBoot camps provide fundamental didactic and technical exposure to trainees in developed and developing countries and help standardize training in basic neurosurgical competencies, while exposing local faculty to important teaching methods. This model provides a sustainable solution to educational needs and demonstrates to local neurosurgeons how they can take ownership of the educational process.Copyright © 2018 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

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