Giving surgical residents autonomy has been a challenge as there has been an increasing focus on quality and improved surgical outcomes in all healthcare settings. Smart Headsets have been used in a variety of industrial work settings, and are equipped with cameras that can be connected to people remotely to observe or direct the wearer (ie Google Glasses). We have trialed a variety of headsets in the clinical setting, but in the operating room and in a international telehealth format. We have used these in an attempt to provide improved resident autonomy, improved education for medical students, and improved remote surgical training. These headsets are currently not ready for integration into regular use, especially in the operating room due to challenges with lighting, difficulty with camera focus, and the distraction that remote participants can have on the headset wearer and presumably operating surgeon.
Augmented (Microsoft Hololens2) and Virtual Reality (Meta Quest) technologies are becoming ubiquitous in select industries and the gaming community but have not reached widespread use. The ability for these technologies to enhance surgical training have only begun to be tapped. There are a number of new headsets from a variety of established technology companies as well as start ups are coming to market. The challenges for many surgical educators are in content development for these platforms. We feel that AR/VR will become a critical component of surgical training, providing trainees with opportunities to practice technically challenging components of surgeries before the operating room. This can also provide established surgeons with opportunities to practice rarely performed skills and may also be used for maintenance of certification. We will demonstrate training modules in both AR and VR for participants.
The growth of simulation-based education has led to an increased demand for surgical simulation educators. Junior faculty are frequently tasked with spearheading simulation training without experience in simulation, training in simulation theory, or knowledge of educational methodologies. This workshop offers valuable guidance for running a surgical simulation program, regardless of resources and experience. Experienced professionals in the field will share ideas and tools for developing or renovating simulation curricula.
Decades of research has now demonstrated the vast importance of nontechnical skills (NTS) for surgeons in improving outcomes in surgical teams. NTS are defined as the cognitive and social skills that underpin knowledge and expertise in high demand workplaces, and categorized for surgery as situation awareness, decision making, leadership, communication and teamwork. More than half of surgical adverse events are preventable, and the breakdown of NTS (e.g. communication) during surgery leads to a higher risk of major complication or death compared to technical errors (Flin et al, 2015). In a recent prospective study, higher NTS scores were associated with decreased rate of any post operative complication (Abahuje et al, 2024). Fortunately, team training can improve NTS in surgeons and lead to improvements in patient safety. It can reduce the risk of litigation and patient complaints, and improve morale of the team. In studies of interdisciplinary teams providing cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR), the teams that receive leadership skills training had significantly better performance in a CPR simulation than a group that received only technical skills training (Capella et al, 2010).
Situation awareness involves being fully present in the moment; gathering and understanding information on the patient’s condition and the environment; projecting its importance into the future. It is influenced by how much cognitive bandwidth you have in the moment. Decision making is a specific skill in which options are considered, selected and communicated. Communication/teamwork includes the ability to exchange critical information, foster a shared understanding with colleagues, and build a team that acts in a coordinated way. The ability of team members to speak up and actually be heard, rather than dismissed or discouraged, is critical to these NTS domains. Finally, leadership is well known to be critically important for surgeons and involves setting and maintaining high standards, supporting others, and coping with pressure.
This workshop will introduce practical tools that participants will take back to their institution, often utilizing steps that are already in the workflow of a typical OR day. These include the practice of self checking/cross checking with the team to help surgeons and trainees regroup after intraoperative surprises or variation. The HALT mnemonic (Hungry, Angry, Late, Tired) is an approach to improve participants’ decision making state before entering the OR. The CUSS mnemonic (C – “I am concerned” U – “I am uncomfortable” S – “This has become a safety concern” S – ” I think this procedure needs to stop”) is a technique of graded assertiveness that can be used to speak up in the operative setting despite steep hierarchy. The Surgical Safety Checklist is a tool commonly used for patient safety in the OR, and is also be framed as a Leadership tool for setting the tone of psychological safety.
During this workshop, didactic teaching, tabletop simulations, and engaging breakout sessions will be used to equip surgeons, trainees and educators to use these tools to both improve their own outcomes and as pedagogical approaches to teach NTS to trainees and colleagues at their respective institutions.
Increasingly, communication, leadership, and professionalism skills are being introduced into residency programs. Even so, Program Directors struggle to develop curricula, identify workshop leaders, and dedicate time to such education. In our residency program, Junior Residents participate in quarterly communication workshops and begin assisting with the facilitation of small group simulation sessions as they progress through their training; Chief Residents assume responsibility for delivering course content.
This workshop focuses on real-world strategies to train Senior Residents to oversee communication training modules, provide relationship-focused feedback in simulation sessions, and motivate Junior Residents to engage fully in ongoing modules. Workshop presenters include: 1) a Senior Resident and Junior Resident who have been leading communication sessions and participating in the quarterly workshops 2) a Medical Student who has experienced the program as a learner and simulated patient, and 3) the Education Director and Program Director have overseen development of the communication training program.
The session will start with a brief presentation of successful implementation strategies from the perspective of residents, educators, and medical student. Workshop leaders will demonstrate a short simulation training exercise, deconstructing the learning process and sharing all educational materials used. Participants will then engage in a series of small group activities, facilitated by workshop the panel, to generate an implementation strategy for their own residency. Coaching sessions will be arranged for participants interested in ongoing implementation support at their own institution.
Participants are provided with a link to materials needed to implement five different communication workshops under the direction of senior residents.
We all know that complications happen, but what do you do when you have one that you replay in your head ad nauseam, that turns into a lawsuit, makes you worry about your reputation, or just simply haunts you?
This workshop focuses on supporting faculty and learners after traumatic patient outcomes. It addresses the aftermath of acute events, aiming to shift the workplace environment from one of shame and blame to one that is objective, accountable, and even supportive. The workshop is designed for surgical faculty, trainees, and medical professionals who experience the challenges of acute emotionally taxing patient care events.
Participants will learn to identify shame, understand its impact on individuals and teams, and acquire tools to combat it. They will engage in shame resilience techniques and practice their use in multiple challenging scenarios. The workshop emphasizes the importance of peer support, providing strategies to support colleagues through emotionally challenging work stressors. Additionally, coaching techniques and their benefits after acute events will be outlined, followed by role-playing exercises to practice these supportive interactions. We will review practical strategies that help to foster a culture of safety and open communication. Additionally, participants will learn how to perform objective root cause analyses, a powerful tool that shifts blame away from individuals and towards systemic issues, promoting a culture of constructive problem-solving and continuous improvement.
This workshop will incorporate a mix of informational sessions, role-playing activities, and group discussions to provide a comprehensive and interactive learning experience. Participants will leave with practical tools and strategies to implement within their institutions and personal practice including techniques to increase their own shame resilience, ways to support their peers, information on starting up formal peer support at an institutional level, as well as ways to analyze incidents more objectively to combat shame and blame culture at its root.
ACGME requirements mandate the instruction of ethics and professionalism to residents and fellows. Ethics in surgery, however, is different from ethics in other fields of medicine in that a) we must necessarily hurt to cure; b) our patients are asleep, and c) the consequences of our operations are often irreversible. Trust between patient and surgeon, as Carlos Pellegrini had famously written, is thus the cornerstone of our profession. To both earn and maintain the trust of patients, surgeons have a unique duty to have a working understanding of the frameworks and ethical considerations in the context and priorities of our extremely complex healthcare system.
Compelling data shows that non-clinical education is only effective when integrated into clinical training, and nothing is more central to or universal about surgical education than M&M. Several institutions have experimented with offering ‘Ethics M&Ms’, sessions in lieu of regular conference in order to discuss ethically challenging cases. Not wanting to separate ethics from clinical considerations, however, our team decided to integrate an ethics curriculum into actual M&M cases over the last two years. Based on the SCORE modules, we identified the most frequent and weight-bearing ethical scenarios surgeons are likely to encounter and organized a flexible curriculum around it. Our goal was to include an ethics concept in M&M bimonthly, with the curriculum recurring every two years. The proposed workshop would share our concepts, frameworks, and ways of integration into any M&M structure. Participants would be armed with an organized approach to bolster than own ethics curricula immediately upon return to their institutions.
Are you looking to advance your research skills and turn your everyday work into scholarly projects? Join us for a hands-on workshop where you’ll learn practical strategies to convert your ideas into research and leverage artificial intelligence (AI) to transform them into publications. Whether you are new to research or a seasoned academic, this session offers tools and insights to help you initiate, develop, and refine research projects while effectively using AI. Don’t miss this chance to learn from experts, connect with peers, and elevate your research to the next level!
Target Audience: This interactive hands-on workshop is designed for surgical educators, surgeons, researchers, trainees, and other healthcare professionals who are keen to explore innovative approaches in research and want to transform their ideas into high-impact scholarly projects.
Overview of Topics:
- Tapping into Your Passions and Communicating Your Research Idea: The first half of the workshop is dedicated to the critical skills of (i) taking a scholarly approach to regular work and (ii) effectively communicating research ideas. Through a brief presentation and a hands-on activity, participants will explore techniques for brainstorming, refining and articulating their research idea. Working in pairs, participants will engage in a structured exercise to brainstorm and refine their ideas, learn how to formulate research questions, and receive feedback on their approach. This activity is designed to stimulate creative thinking and enhance participants’ ability to present their research ideas convincingly.
- Leveraging AI in Education Research: The second half of the workshop will focus on how AI (e.g., ChatGPT), can be used to support various stages of the research process. Participants will engage in hands-on activities to use AI-generated prompts to identify gaps in current literature and conduct a preliminary literature review in the area of research they identified during the first half. This segment will provide practical skills for utilizing AI tools to enhance research efficiency, identify key references, and refine research topics. Additionally, the workshop will cover other AI tools available for research and best practices for using AI ethically and effectively in academic work.
Information for Participants:
This workshop will incorporate a mix of informational sessions and hands-on activities to provide a comprehensive and immersive learning experience. Prior to the workshop, all the participants will be notified about what tools will be demonstrated and how to download them. Each participant will bring their laptop for the workshop and download tools per prior instructions.
Objectives:
By the end of this workshop, participants will leave with a comprehensive toolkit for advancing their education research endeavors. They will learn how to:
- Identify and develop compelling research ideas from their everyday work that are relevant to their field.
- Communicate and refine research questions effectively through collaborative feedback and peer engagement.
- Utilize AI tools to streamline the research process, from identifying literature gaps to conducting efficient literature reviews.
- Implement AI-driven strategies to enhance the quality and impact of their research, ensuring their work aligns with the latest advancements in the field.
- Apply best practices for the ethical use of AI in research to maintain academic integrity and rigor.