Search

Introduction: Emergency care of critically ill patients in the trauma room is an integral part of interdisciplinary work in hospitals. Live threatening injuries require swift diagnosis, prioritization, and treatment; thus, different medical specialties need to work together closely for optimal patient care. Training is essential to facilitate smooth performance. This study presents a training tool for familiarization with trauma room algorithms in immersive virtual reality (VR), and a first qualitative assessment. Materials and methods: An interdisciplinary team conceptualized two scenarios and filmed these in the trauma room of the University Medical Center Mainz, Germany in 3D-360°. This video content was used to create an immersive VR experience. Participants of the Department of Anesthesiology were included in the study, questionnaires were obtained and eye movement was recorded. Results: 31 volunteers participated in the study, of which 10 (32,2%) had completed specialist training in anesthesiology. Participants reported a high rate of immersion (immersion(mean) = 6 out of 7) and low Visually Induced Motion Sickness (VIMS(mean) = 1,74 out of 20). Participants agreed that VR is a useful tool for medical education (mean = 1,26; 1 very useful, 7 not useful at all). Residents felt significantly more secure in the matter after training (p < 0,05), specialist showed no significant difference. Discussion: This study presents a novel tool for familiarization with trauma room procedures, which is especially helpful for less experienced residents. Training in VR was well accepted and may be a solution to enhance training in times of low resources for in person training. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Practice makes perfect - a saying that everyone has certainly heard. Surgeons of all levels of training can demonstrably practice to some extent on simulators. This training outside the operating theatre and independent of patients makes sense, both ethically and financially. Although the effectiveness of simulation in surgery has been proven several times, simulation training is not a mandatory part of surgical specialist training in Germany. Simulation covers a very wide range in terms of application, effort and costs. This review is intended to give an overview of the systems and their areas of application and the target group. The focus lies on the commonly available systems and possible advantages and disadvantages. Practical skills are in the foreground and all three pillars of general and visceral surgery - conventional techniques, laparoscopy and robotics - are taken into account. However, simulators alone do not achieve cost-benefit effectiveness. The full potential of such an investment can only be exploited with a site-specific, structured training concept in which simulation training according to the post-graduate year and appropriate allocation to surgeries in the operating room are closely interlinked. It should always be possible to train basic skills on site. The significant additional costs for complex simulation systems are possible, depending on the financial resources, or should be purchased in a network or for national courses. The techniques of immersive virtual reality in combination with artificial intelligence and deformation algorithms will certainly play a decisive role for the future of simulation, whereby the use of the available systems must be a primary goal. The integration of simulation into specialist training should be striven for, not least in order to justify the costs., Competing Interests: Tobias Huber has a non financial research cooperation regarding simulation in laparoscopic camera navigation with Surgical Science Sweden. Tobias Huber receives funding from BMBF, DFG, UM Mainz, Liver Foundation, Gutenberg Lehrkolleg Mainz, Alexander Karl Stiftung Mainz. Florentine Hüttl receives funding from the German Society of Surgery. Peter Grimminger is a Proctor for Intuitive Surgical. Hauke Lang, Laura Hanke, Lukas Vradelis and Nils Sommer declare no conflict of interest. Shown Simulators have been supported by intramural educational funding of the university medical center Mainz and Alexander Karl-Stiftung, Mainz, Germany., (Thieme. All rights reserved.)

Due to the optimisation of conservative treatment, the improvement of imaging methods and the continuous development of surgical techniques, the borders of resectability in liver surgery have changed significantly in recent decades.Thanks to numerous technical developments, in particular three-dimensional segmentation, preoperative planning and orientation during the operation itself, can now be facilitated, especially in complex procedures.New technologies such as 3D printing as well as virtual and augmented reality offer additional display options for the patients' individual anatomy. Various intraoperative navigation options are intended to make preoperative planning available in the operating room in order to increase patient safety.This review article is intended to provide an overview of the current state of available technologies and an outlook into the operating theatre of the future., Competing Interests: Die Autorinnen/Autoren geben an, dass kein Interessenkonflikt besteht., (Thieme. All rights reserved.)

Background: Education of medical students in surgery not only consists of knowledge about diseases and their treatment but also of practical skills like i.e. suturing. In the clinical training of medical students, professional interaction and communication with patients is a key component. Due to the circumstances of distancing and reduced exposure to patients during the COVID-19 pandemic, clinical training of medical students has been challenging. To combat these restrictions, digital modern teaching concepts had to be implemented., Material and Methods: Surgical education of medical students was reorganised during the summer semester 2020 and winter semester 2020/2021 and the necessary adjustments, as well as their evaluation by students, were analysed. Results were compared to the pre-COVID evaluations of the summer semester 2019. Furthermore a survey of all university surgical departments in Germany (n = 39) was conducted to compare the different approaches to handling this very new situation., Results: All participating centres were performing surgical education with medical students during the COVID-19 pandemic. Overall, digital teaching methods were well accepted by students and teachers, even though short-term changes were necessary during the second wave of the pandemic. Both students and teachers missed the direct mutual interaction as well as with patients (summer semester 2020 36%, winter semester 2020/2021 40%). Modern and digital teaching concepts were assessed positively (summer semester 2020 45%, winter semester 2020/2021 40%) and long term implementation was desired by students and teachers (winter semester 2020/2021 60%)., Conclusion: Training of practical surgical skills, as well as communication skills, can only be taught in presence. Digital learning concepts can support, but not replace, surgical courses held in presence, including contact to patients and manual training. Blended learning concepts facilitate a leap towards modern teaching concepts and increase the quality of classes spent in presence., Competing Interests: Die Autorinnen/Autoren geben an, dass kein Interessenkonflikt besteht., (Thieme. All rights reserved.)