Open AccessThere’s an App for That: Vaginal Hysterectomy
Author(s) -
D. Miyazaki
Publication year - 2019
Publication title -
journal of obstetrics gynecology and reproductive sciences
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
ISSN - 2578-8965
DOI - 10.31579/2578-8965/013
Subject(s) - curriculum , certification , hysterectomy , medicine , scale (ratio) , medical education , medical physics , computer science , multimedia , surgery , psychology , pedagogy , physics , quantum mechanics , political science , law
Objective: To create an instructional app which includes medical knowledge, procedural steps and assessments based on the American Congress of Obstetrician and Gynecologists (ACOG) curriculum for vaginal hysterectomy. Methods: A survey of recent medical education literature and the use of app technology found that millennial trainees prefer engaging technology-enhanced learning opportunities. The vaginal hysterectomy procedure currently has a variety of resident evaluations and case tracking methods. Results: Key features of the application include: 1) ACOG curriculum for vaginal hysterectomy, 2) a complete step by step live and simulated surgical video tutorial, 3) a procedural step by step assessment (10 steps-- 0-10 score), 4) a global surgical rating scale (7 metrics), and 5) a knowledge based assessment (4 metrics, 0-4 scale). The data captured on the app can be accessed via IPAD and iPhone mobile devices and is verified by Apple. The evaluations can be directly emailed to any database. Conclusion: A comprehensive instructional surgery app coupled with real time assessment will provide greater learning efficiency and will more effectively improve surgical skills. This app has the potential to standardize surgical evaluation in the operating room and provide a more efficient method to track surgeon competency using ACOG guidelines. The assessment is currently employed by the ACOG Simulation Consortium Working group during vaginal hysterectomy simulation and is part of a surgical simulation course certified by the ABOG for MOC credits.