After a year of refining and validating their training modules, four teams were selected as Finalist Award winners. Each team received up to US$500,000 to further develop and validate their surgical training models.
The Finalist Award teams have representatives from across multiple continents, but are focused on surgical training needs in LMICs, including Ethiopia, Guatemala, and Nigeria. They represent a variety of surgical specialties, including obstetrics, trauma, orthopaedics, and reconstructive surgery.
The teams will continue to collaborate with the Challenge partners and their local institutions to test and validate their models until the Winning judging process begins in October 2022.
The Finalist teams are:
Click on one of the questions below to expand the answer.
The Finalist delivery phase includes both internal and external evaluation of applicants’ current prototype. What is the aim of the evaluation?
The aim of the evaluation is to demonstrate that the target clinical practitioner(s) can use the surgical training modules created by the Finalist teams to become competent and confident in a particular procedure. Applicants to the Finalist Awards should attach an Evaluation Protocol that their team and the external validators can use to evaluate their current prototype.
What should be included in the Evaluation Protocol?
Guidance on developing the Evaluation Protocol can be found here.
How will you ensure that these Evaluation Protocol proposals will run successfully? Will there be support provided if the evaluation site isn’t engaging or the module doesn’t allow for good enough engagement?
The protocol should be run internally by the Finalists and also by external sites. This will allow applicants to gain an understanding of any issues with the design and update the modules and processes for the external site. The GSTC team will interview the sites and stay up to date with their progress throughout the external evaluation period to make sure the evaluation is fair and consistent.
Are applicants expected to select the audience for the evaluation?
Yes, applicants should design the Evaluation Protocol with their preferred audience in mind.
The external evaluation process will be carried out by third party validators. Will the validators test the modules in a lab setting or a clinical environment?
The external validators will test the modules in a clinical setting.
Where will the evaluation take place?
Evaluations will take place in clinical settings that have sufficient volume of the kind of procedures the competing teams are focusing on. Applicants to the Finalist Awards can email the GSTC team at [email protected] with suggestions for relevant clinical sites.
Could the evaluation take place in a high-income country, as there is a higher volume of patients?
The techniques being taught should be suitable for low-income countries and therefore it is more appropriate for the evaluation to take place in these settings. However, if applicants consider their evaluation would be better performed in a high-income country, this could be discussed with the GSTC team.
Can you provide more details on how you envision the external institutions running the evaluation?
Institutions chosen as evaluation partners will recruit surgical trainees and educate them on the Finalist team’s created modules before they are used in the clinical setting. The trainees will then use the module while they are in the clinical setting. The GSTC will provide funding to these institutions to make sure they set aside protected time for trainees to focus on the modules. We are also open to new innovations in how to evaluate the impact of simulation-based learning on clinical efficacy and welcome your ideas on how to achieve this.
How will the evaluation partners be decided?
We are doing a general call for surgical training facilities in low resource settings. Institutions are welcome to submit an Expression of Interest until 26 November 2021. More information on how to submit an Expression of Interest can be found here.
Will the additional modules be evaluated during the same time period as the initial prototype?
No. The original module will go through the evaluation process whilst the new modules are being developed. The Finalists should use the same principles to develop the additional modules as they did with the initial ones, creating a range of high quality surgical materials.
All prototype surgical training modules will be hosted on Appropedia and both technical assessors and the Judging Panel will utilise the applicant’s Appropedia pages to assess their prototype. Can links to external resources be included on the Appropedia platform?
Links to external sites can be placed on Appropedia, but the focus needs to be on the end users. The site should be easily navigable, so that the user can find all the necessary information to complete the module.
Do applicants need to include login details to external sites on the Appropedia platform - e.g. Apple store?
All the supporting material including links to external resources should be easily searchable on the Appropedia platform. The accessibility score of the module could be affected if applicants fail to provide instructions to the judges on how they can access any external applications.
Can applicants include a link to an external application that is in development?
Yes, a link can be included but applicants should make clear if an application is in development and provide a timeline for its completion.
Can we develop simulations outside of the GSTC programme?
We encourage applicants who have developed simulations outside of the GSTC programme to upload them to Appropedia to build their additional resources.
Applicants to the Finalist Awards should be able to demonstrate the skills, commitment and capacity needed to deliver two to three additional surgical training modules per team and to undertake an evaluation on their current prototype. Will applicants who submit two additional modules be marked lower than applicants who submit three additional modules?
Two modules which demonstrate the impact on a high number of patients will be acceptable. The applicants will need to highlight the clinical training problems their additional modules are addressing and the impact they are proposing.
Can the additional module be an advanced version of the original training module?
Yes, but applicants will need to make the case that the new module expands the reach and continues to be impactful.
Can applicants change their target audience in one of their additional modules?
Yes, this is acceptable. Applicants will need to address how the methodology applies to a different learner group. The Challenge is looking for innovative approaches which support the wider issues of global access to surgery and surgical training.
What will be used to assess the modules?
The modules will be assessed against the published Judging Criteria only.
For any other enquiries please contact us.
