Challenge finalists submit entries for surgical training Grand Prize 01 Dec 2022 After a hectic few weeks, the Global Surgical Training Challenge finalist teams submitted their Grand Prize entries on 7 November 2022. The judging panel will meet on 12 December 2022 to review the entries and decide on a winner. The winning team and Grand Prize will be announced in January 2023. Many of the modules have undergone an important evolution since the initial prototype showcase in 2021. Over the last few weeks, the teams have continued working hard to update their surgical training modules based on the feedback they have received from the global evaluation partners. Many of them started with a single surgical indication, but have since expanded on the original module to include other types of procedures. All-Safe All-Safe started as a module to teach laparoscopic surgery for the treatment of ectopic pregnancy. The team has since added modules on other minimally invasive procedures for indications such as appendicitis. “Each of the modules will teach [learners] something new in laparoscopy,” says Dr Jeffcoach, team leader for All-Safe. “The thing with laparoscopic skills is that you can use them for everything.” Tibial Fracture Fixation The Tibial Fracture Fixation team, led by Dr Julielynn Wong and Dr Habila Umaru, has expanded to teach fixation techniques for other types of fractures, such as humeral fracture and pediatric distal forearm fracture. In addition to medical officers and other non-orthopedic specialists, they are developing methods of reaching traditional bone-setters to treat these common injuries. “Exposing them to these models will truly be a game changer because they will learn the skill and deploy them where there are no orthopedic surgeons,” says Dr Umaru. CrashSavers CrashSavers team lead and trauma surgeon Dr Sabrina Asturius says her team’s hemorrhage control training module has potential for more than first responders who respond to traumas. “We can see this module expanding to midwives who need to control bleeding in childbirth, for example. This can have a huge impact in rural communities,” she said. AmoSmile The modularity of the platform is what allows teams to expand the curriculum, according to Dr Anthony Dwyer of finalist team AmoSmile. “It is simply plug and play from an educational content standpoint. We made it modular to be able to insert any specialty and put their curriculum in, whether it’s from biomedical education, nursing, speech pathology, cleft surgery, you name it,” he says. The judging panel will review the submissions and follow a specific evaluation process before they meet at the end of November to discuss and decide the Grand Prize winner. Photo by Scott Graham on Unsplash
