Skip to content
  • About
  • Contact
  • Contribute
  • Book
  • Careers
  • Podcast
  • Recommended
  • Speaking
  • All
  • Physician
  • Practice
  • Policy
  • Finance
  • Conditions
  • .edu
  • Patient
  • Meds
  • Tech
  • Social
  • Video
    • All
    • Physician
    • Practice
    • Policy
    • Finance
    • Conditions
    • .edu
    • Patient
    • Meds
    • Tech
    • Social
    • Video
    • About
    • Contact
    • Contribute
    • Book
    • Careers
    • Podcast
    • Recommended
    • Speaking

How accelerated learning platforms are pushing surgical education forward

Ruchi Thanawala, MD
Tech
December 23, 2022
Share
Tweet
Share

Surgical training has long been confined to traditional models of Halstedian apprenticeship, where trainees are guided—but also potentially limited—by their superiors. Within this dynamic, the transfer of knowledge from expert to learner is dependent on individual educators, which can then be easily affected by personal circumstances and potential unconscious biases.

Physicians are often busy and rightly focused on patient care, but this can lead to uncaptured and delayed feedback for residents trying to progress their learning. As a result, gatekeeping of knowledge can occur without the educator even knowing.

More pressingly, the Association of American Medical Colleges has projected a shortage of between 54,100 to 139,000 physicians in the U.S. by 2033, making the next ten years vital for solving a looming public health crisis. Technology has been recognized as a potential solution for expanding the reach of health care, but it’s also possible it could improve the efficiency of medical education too. Expanding the talent pipeline through diversity and inclusion measures is also noted as a way to combat the shortage.

The question is then: How can we make surgical training more effective and equitable?

Let’s take a look at how new technologies are being used to accelerate resident learning and make a much-needed difference in surgical education.

Improving feedback

Digital transformation has occurred rapidly across health care. However, within surgical training, innovation has been slow. Unfortunately, electronic health records (EHR) were designed more for billing than for patient care. As a result, they are not naturally geared towards educational value.

Additionally, many cases in surgical education go under-reported because of the lack of integration between EHR technologies, educational databases, and accreditation systems. any surgeons still manage their case histories manually with pen and paper. Both residents and medical experts must navigate ineffective systems and waste valuable time in doing so.

There’s also the problem that feedback from educators can take weeks, by which time residents may have moved on to other training rotations or the memory of the case is not as fresh in their minds. And feedback is often only shared orally between surgeons, meaning important information is easily lost and not easily referenced in the future.

In response, web-based accelerated learning platforms are proven to enable educators to deliver timely and capturable feedback. They do this by automatically offering evaluation options depending on the case to speed up and ease the process. Feedback can be formative rather than summative, as students have more time to build on what they’ve learned before they are required to move on.

Using a learning platform creates the opportunity to collect and manage resident learning data to better understand the progress of training from an objective viewpoint. Technology helps education to be tailored to individual needs and gives insight into the effectiveness of the teaching.

Empowering learners

Currently, emphasis on individual educators is weakening the surgical training process. Educators naturally hold biases (unconscious or otherwise) that restrict residents’ capacity to learn in a comprehensive way.

The pathway to becoming a surgeon has been compared to a leaking pipeline, where residents from minority backgrounds fall by the wayside. Similarly, while more women may be graduating, the culture in surgical training is still male-dominated and can deter women from entering the field. Residents, therefore, may face barriers to training when they don’t see themselves reflected in the surgical culture.

Conversely, web-based platforms enable transparency as they record resident case histories and attached feedback, so it is easily accessible by both the learner and their educators. With better transparency, feedback objectivity and quality are improved as educators are made more accountable for their responses.

Having access to their feedback empowers learners to measure their own progress and see their learning journey comparably with the anonymized learning curves of their peers. Subsequently, residents can focus their attention on areas that need improvement, and learning accelerator platforms can also provide aid by recommending further study material.

Once training is optimized through digitalization, wider implications can also be considered. For instance, with a broader understanding of surgical learning, global health could be improved by forming surgical training partnerships with lower to middle-income countries, raising the standard of medical learning worldwide.

Overcoming new challenges

New tools come with new challenges for the medical community. Thankfully, accelerated learning platforms help guide educators to better understand the process of learning and how to support residents with technological advancements in the OR.

Artificial intelligence (AI) and virtual reality (VR) are already providing 3D imaging to help students learn and retain anatomy information faster, while cloud-powered knowledge exchange is expanding the chance for medical collaboration and research within the digital global arena. However, as innovations such as robotically-assisted surgeries increase, so does the need to refine and measure how students become familiar with these new tools.

For instance, computer vision with a microscope during surgery can show the pathway a resident has made. But, whether they had assessed the available options and chosen correctly or incorrectly (or didn’t know all options) is vital to knowing residents’ true cognitive understanding.

With this kind of collected data around new, sophisticated tools, accelerated learning platforms allow educators to identify where curricula need to be restructured to ensure learning is effective.

AI and digital transformation are helping prioritize human-centric learning experiences that are supportive rather than testing. Accelerated learning platforms are the natural evolution of surgical training to address the existing model’s inefficiencies and keep pace with a broader medical sphere that has made huge strides in recent years.

Ruchi Thanawala is a cardiothoracic surgeon.

Prev

Coaching or mentorship: What is the solution for physicians? [PODCAST]

December 22, 2022 Kevin 0
…
Next

Who's holding space for you?

December 23, 2022 Kevin 0
…

Tagged as: Surgery

Post navigation

< Previous Post
Coaching or mentorship: What is the solution for physicians? [PODCAST]
Next Post >
Who's holding space for you?

Related Posts

  • When learning medicine is not enough

    Hanna Saltzman
  • How the science of learning salvaged my college career

    Elijah Hamm
  • The tension between learning and the illness of others

    Nathaniel Fleming
  • The difference between learning medicine and doing medicine

    Steven Zhang, MD
  • To the third-year medical students who feel like they aren’t learning anything

    King Pascual
  • Dealing with the pressures of learning as a physician-in-training

    Linda Nguyen

More in Tech

  • Is AI the solution for the shortage of nephrologists? ChatGPT weighs in.

    Amol Shrikhande, MD
  • How AI is enhancing patient care and improving radiologists’ lives

    Brett Mollard, MD
  • ChatGPT masters USMLE: a real win for AI, but a long way from the art of medicine

    Harvey Castro, MD, MBA
  • The game-changing impact of AI regulation: Unlocking the potential in health care and society

    Harvey Castro, MD, MBA
  • Surviving TMI and AI: the importance of self-initiated self-learning for future physicians

    Deepak Gupta, MD and Sarwan Kumar, MD
  • Navigating the ethics of AI in surgery: Balancing bias and accountability for safer procedures

    Jag Singh, MD
  • Most Popular

  • Past Week

    • A physician’s typical day, as envisioned by a non-clinician health care MBA: a satire

      Jennifer Lycette, MD | Physician
    • Is chaos in health care leading us towards socialized medicine? How physician burnout is a catalyst.

      Howard Smith, MD | Physician
    • Revealing America’s expansion: the dark truth of Native American suffering and unjustified abuses

      Anonymous | Physician
    • The tragic story of Mr. G: a painful journey towards understanding suicide

      William Lynes, MD | Physician
    • The rising threat of lung cancer in Asian American female nonsmokers

      Alice S. Y. Lee, MD | Conditions
    • From Moscow Mule to the opioid crisis: Unveiling the tragic legacy and urgent solutions

      Osmund Agbo, MD | Meds
  • Past 6 Months

    • “Is your surgeon really skilled? The hidden threat to public safety in medicine.

      Gene Uzawa Dorio, MD | Physician
    • Breaking the cycle of racism in health care: a call for anti-racist action

      Tomi Mitchell, MD | Policy
    • Unveiling the hidden damage: the secretive world of medical boards

      Alan Lindemann, MD | Physician
    • An inspiring tribute to an exceptional radiologist who made a lasting impact

      Kim Downey, PT | Conditions
    • The hidden factor in physician burnout: How the climate crisis is contributing to the erosion of well-being

      Elizabeth Cerceo, MD | Physician
    • Proactive risk management: a game-changer in preventing physician burnout

      Howard Smith, MD | Physician
  • Recent Posts

    • The alarming epidemic of physician burnout and how we can combat it

      Tomi Mitchell, MD | Physician
    • A retired physician’s battle with moral injury

      Hayward Zwerling, MD | Physician
    • Unveiling the secrets to effective resuscitation and overcoming obstacles

      Deepak Gupta, MD | Physician
    • Georgia’s new law promoting truth and transparency in health care credentials

      Carmen Kavali, MD | Policy
    • Physician employment contracts: the key to fighting burnout and improving working conditions [PODCAST]

      The Podcast by KevinMD | Podcast
    • A tense family drama unfolds as a young daughter pursues unconventional career path

      Osmund Agbo, MD | Physician

Subscribe to KevinMD and never miss a story!

Get free updates delivered free to your inbox.


Find jobs at
Careers by KevinMD.com

Search thousands of physician, PA, NP, and CRNA jobs now.

Learn more

Leave a Comment

Founded in 2004 by Kevin Pho, MD, KevinMD.com is the web’s leading platform where physicians, advanced practitioners, nurses, medical students, and patients share their insight and tell their stories.

Social

  • Like on Facebook
  • Follow on Twitter
  • Connect on Linkedin
  • Subscribe on Youtube
  • Instagram

CME Spotlights

From MedPage Today

Latest News

  • FDA Panel Endorses mAb to Prevent RSV in Infants
  • Novel LAA Closure Device 'Promising'
  • Acute GvHD Risk After Allo-HCT Higher With Some Antibiotics vs Others
  • TTFields Therapy Yields OS Improvement in Second-Line NSCLC
  • Mental Health Provider Disclosed Personal Patient Info in Google Reviews

Meeting Coverage

  • Novel LAA Closure Device 'Promising'
  • TTFields Therapy Yields OS Improvement in Second-Line NSCLC
  • Upper Airway Stimulation Device for OSA Holds Up in Real-World Analysis
  • Morning Naps in Elderly People May Reflect Dementia Risk
  • Extra Follow-Up Confirms Benefit of Nivolumab in Muscle-Invasive Bladder Cancer
  • Most Popular

  • Past Week

    • A physician’s typical day, as envisioned by a non-clinician health care MBA: a satire

      Jennifer Lycette, MD | Physician
    • Is chaos in health care leading us towards socialized medicine? How physician burnout is a catalyst.

      Howard Smith, MD | Physician
    • Revealing America’s expansion: the dark truth of Native American suffering and unjustified abuses

      Anonymous | Physician
    • The tragic story of Mr. G: a painful journey towards understanding suicide

      William Lynes, MD | Physician
    • The rising threat of lung cancer in Asian American female nonsmokers

      Alice S. Y. Lee, MD | Conditions
    • From Moscow Mule to the opioid crisis: Unveiling the tragic legacy and urgent solutions

      Osmund Agbo, MD | Meds
  • Past 6 Months

    • “Is your surgeon really skilled? The hidden threat to public safety in medicine.

      Gene Uzawa Dorio, MD | Physician
    • Breaking the cycle of racism in health care: a call for anti-racist action

      Tomi Mitchell, MD | Policy
    • Unveiling the hidden damage: the secretive world of medical boards

      Alan Lindemann, MD | Physician
    • An inspiring tribute to an exceptional radiologist who made a lasting impact

      Kim Downey, PT | Conditions
    • The hidden factor in physician burnout: How the climate crisis is contributing to the erosion of well-being

      Elizabeth Cerceo, MD | Physician
    • Proactive risk management: a game-changer in preventing physician burnout

      Howard Smith, MD | Physician
  • Recent Posts

    • The alarming epidemic of physician burnout and how we can combat it

      Tomi Mitchell, MD | Physician
    • A retired physician’s battle with moral injury

      Hayward Zwerling, MD | Physician
    • Unveiling the secrets to effective resuscitation and overcoming obstacles

      Deepak Gupta, MD | Physician
    • Georgia’s new law promoting truth and transparency in health care credentials

      Carmen Kavali, MD | Policy
    • Physician employment contracts: the key to fighting burnout and improving working conditions [PODCAST]

      The Podcast by KevinMD | Podcast
    • A tense family drama unfolds as a young daughter pursues unconventional career path

      Osmund Agbo, MD | Physician

MedPage Today Professional

An Everyday Health Property Medpage Today
  • Terms of Use | Disclaimer
  • Privacy Policy
  • DMCA Policy
All Content © KevinMD, LLC
Site by Outthink Group

Leave a Comment

Comments are moderated before they are published. Please read the comment policy.

Loading Comments...