Appropedia
Launched in 2006, Appropedia provides collaborative solutions in a variety of areas, including sustainability, poverty reduction and appropriate technology. The Global Surgical Training Challenge portal, hosted by Appropedia, will host simulation models for teaching surgical procedural skills in low-resource settings. Students or surgeons can practice multiple times in a safe, less stressful environment, usually with immediate feedback from self-assessment tools.
The medical and surgical professional training modules are composed of skills pages with annotated video tutorials and knowledge pages with instructional content. Each module lists the requirements, demonstrates how to perform the procedure, and explains how users can self assess their performance.
The portal has many advantages in evaluating performance with objective parameters, providing feedback during the training process, and simulating complete procedures. This makes it ideal for the acquisition of advanced skills and makes it a tool for assessing the skills of both apprentices and advanced surgeons who want to characterise their performance objectively.
A number of members of the Appropedia team will support the partnership between GSTC and Appropedia. They will help the Discovery Award teams prepare their projects for the open source platform by developing a data model for delivering skill-based content, ensuring the usability of the site.
“The goal is to provide validated training modules ready to be used in various settings, especially for simulation-based surgical training,” says Emilio Velis, executive director of the Appropedia Foundation. “We want to prepare medical practitioners in low and middle- income countries at a low cost.”
