>CYBER-BASED EDUCATION AND DISTANT LEARNING

MINIMALLY INVASIVE SURGERY EDUCATIONAL SUPPORT PROGRAM

Cognitive Development Program

Skill is a very important ingredient for consistent successful outcomes with minimally invasive procedures.  But, the key to successful procedures lies with clinical judgment.  This can be accomplished with a foundation of cognitive khowledge and experience.  Therefore, it is essential to have a cognitive and clinical judgment development program.  A yearly schedule of nine topics is suggested as follows:

• Difficult Laparoscopic Cholecystectomy and Avoiding Bile Duct Injuries

• Difficult Laparoscopic Cholecystectomy OCCES

• Laparoscopic Common Bile Duct Exploration

• Laparoscopic Nissen Fundoplication

• Laparoscopic Nissen Fundoplication OCCES

• Laparoscopic Hernia Repair

• Laparoscopic Hernia Repair OCCES

• Laparoscopic Appendectomy

• Laparoscopic Appendectomy OCCES

*OCCES - Objective Based Clinical Competency Evaluation Scenarios

The establishment of the topics included in these tutorials will form a core of cognitive knowledge that will lead to other topics that are more advanced or respond to contemporary issues.

The participating health care system should purchase and make available to the surgical staff and residents the AMTI CD-Rom series (formerly Yale Laparoscopy CD-Rom series).  It is suggested that surgeons review and be tested on these CD-Rom based tutorials during the first year of the program.  The series includes tutorials designed for nurses and patients as well.