Cardiovascular Business - September/October 2008 - (Page 24) virtual spotlight › By C.P. K aiser Medical Simulation training Saves Time, Money, & Radiation Exposure S lems faced by interventional cardiologists. Physicians complete imulation training has finalized its move into the the simulations on-site at one of MSC’s six SimSuite education mainstream. The technique received the stamp of centers across the country or at conferences throughout the year, approval earlier this year when the American Board such as the upcoming Transcatheter Cardiovascular Therapeuof Internal Medicine (ABIM) adopted its use into its tics (TCT) conference in Washington, D.C. Maintenance of Certification program for intervenUpon successful completion of a simulation session, intertional cardiologists. ventional cardiologists receive 20 points toward Maintenance of In 2002, the ABIM realized that the method of testing in the Certification. “Typically, this takes three hours of training and future would involve some type of simulation, according to Amy self-testing at the simulator,” write George D. Dangas, MD, and Ketron, manager of clinical development for Medical Simulation Jeffrey J. Popma, MD, in an article on certification in the Journal Corporation (MSC) of Denver. The ABIM evaluated several simof the American College of Cardiology – Cardiovascular Intervenulation companies and chose MSC, which then conducted a feation (2008;1;332-334). According to the researchers, the ABIM sibility study with 120 interventional cardiologists to determine if has said it will expand the simulation program, eventually simulation training would provide a valid method of measuring making it a mandatory step in the certification process. the differences in skill levels among cardiologists. “We showed it The Society for Simulation in Healthcare, a multi-disciplinary, could,” Ketron says. multi-specialty, international society established in 2004, is curA study by David L. Dawson, MD, and colleagues from the rently developing a process by which simulation programs can division of vascular and endovascular surgery at the University of California, Davis, found significant benefits to simulation training (J Vasc Surg 2007;45:149-54). Researchers trained nine vascular surgery residents over three days using simulation technology from MSC. Trainees also underwent conventional training. Compared with performance early on day one, residents improved significantly in three categories: n Total procedure time decreased 54 percent n Volume of contrast decreased 44 percent, and n Fluoroscopy time decreased 48 percent. Another study by Berry et al found that simulation training was up to 16 times less expensive than endovascular training with animals (J Vasc Interv Radiol 2008;19:233-238). The analysis compared the purchase or rental of the simulator Procedicus VIST (Mentice) to the rental of an animal laboratory. The authors concluded that the biggest cost factor in the animal laboratory is the “consumption of stents for each procedure because the stent cannot be retrieved from the animal. In the simulation “simantha” is part of the simulation laboratory, the stents are only virtually placed.” training offered by In conjunction with MSC, the ABIM has devel- Medical simulation oped five case scenarios that include common prob- Corporation. 24 Cardiovascular Business september/october 2008
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