CHARLOTTESVILLE, VA--(Marketwired - Oct 27, 2015) - Scitent, Inc., a full-service eLearning company that helps organizations build their eLearning business, launched General and Thoracic Surgery Education today, a website dedicated to helping general surgery instructors in developing countries teach surgical procedures through simulation for commonly encountered clinical problems.
According to Dr. Thomas Daniel, the founder of General and Thoracic Surgery Education and Professor Emeritus of Surgery at UVA School of Medicine, "Numerous programs exist where physicians and healthcare staff travel to the developing world to treat patients and conduct surgical procedures. However, these visits often only last a week or two, and leave no sustained training for surgeons in the country where the surgery took place. My motivation in launching the free course is to provide a model for teaching the local faculty who will, in turn, teach their own residents and medical students. Teaching the teachers will create an accelerated and sustainable training environment."
The General and Thoracic Surgery Education course has a responsive, mobile-friendly design, which is critical for the developing world where users increasingly bypass desktops and choose smart phones and tablets for Internet access.
The free course utilizes simulation surgery exercises that can be built and performed utilizing standard surgical instruments, locally available animal tissue and inexpensive materials that can be purchased online.
While a simulation surgery course does not replace the typical intense and prolonged surgical training program, it does provide residents in the developing world with a head start at experiencing surgery. "Simulation accelerates the learning process by creating environments where you can prepare in advance by studying procedures online, then practice these procedures on models supplemented by harvested animal tissue. One can learn without injuring patients, and also learn how to be captain of a team and use surgical assistants wisely," said Dr. Daniel.
"We're very pleased to support this important initiative with our course development services, distribution technologies and LMS, but we're particularly excited that this work can help close the education and healthcare gaps that still exist in the developing world," said Deb McMahon, president and CEO of Scitent.
The course includes 37 videos and describes six trans-abdominal and four trans-thoracic surgery exercises using simulation techniques, including the positioning of a patient for a thoracotomy. Aside from saving time, the online course reduces costs by not having to purchase textbooks and enables students to study and prepare for in-person training.
About Scitent
Based in Charlottesville, Va., Scitent helps nonprofits, associations, healthcare organizations and for-profit organizations foster and grow their eLearning business with in-house expertise in sales and marketing, instructional design/courseware development, distribution and LMS technology and services, eCommerce and customer support. Find out more at www.Scitent.com.
About General and Thoracic Surgery Education
General and Thoracic Surgery Education is dedicated to helping general surgery instructors in developing countries teach surgical procedures necessary to treat commonly encountered clinical problems by offering a free course. The teaching method utilizes simulation surgery exercises that can be performed using standard surgical instruments, locally available animal tissue and inexpensive materials that can be purchased online.
Find out more at thoracicsurgeryeducation.com.
Contact Information:
For more information, contact:
Caroline March-Long
434-220-5576