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response to this need for further orthopaedic training, the Orthopaedic
Trauma Institute (OTI) has recently opened a Surgical Training Facility
(STF) located on the San Francisco General Hospital and Trauma Center
(SFGH) campus. The STF is dedicated to the development and presentation
of innovative medical, health, and science workshops. The facility
opened in the fall of 2007 and consists of a six work-station simulated
operating suite, state-of-the-art surgical, radiological, and digital
communications equipment, and integrated conference rooms.
Since its opening, the STF has accommodated over 120 annual educational courses and technology development sessions, serving multiple departments, physician trainees, medical students, hospital staff, and other health care personnel from local, regional, national, and international centers. The lab has the capacity for live feed footage into the Institute conference room, at satellite locations across the SFGH campus, and, through internet connections, to anywhere in the world. For example, more than 500 health care providers and industry professionals attended the Fifth Annual Orthopaedic Trauma Course held in April of 2010. The Surgical Training Center was able to broadcast a live surgical dissection directly to the hotel thus enabling attendees to view surgeon-instructors provide hands-on instruction on the latest equipment and techniques related to fracture care and trauma surgery without needing to leave the downtown conference site 20 minutes from the hospital.
With bird’s-eye-view cameras, the STF allows for cadaveric clinical teaching and procedure-based research. Fluoroscopic images can be transmitted from three of the center’s stations. To allow students to learn within the lab, there is a flat-screen television for instructional videos and the facilitation of live, two-way training. The lab will provide a much needed location for procedure-based research in area such as computer-assisted surgery.
The focus of these new techniques and technologies is to be less invasive, for faster recovery, and the reduction of complications such as infection. The techniques use radiology and fluoroscopy to spare soft tissues on the bone. This telemedicine, the practice of medicine when the doctor and patient are widely separated using two-way voice and visual communication capability, has greatly enhanced the ability to expand training and educational programs. Additionally, courses and procedures can be recorded in high-definition quality and archived electronically.
For additional information please contact:
Liu Cheng, Manager
Surgical Training Facility
UCSF/SFGH Orthopaedic Trauma Institute
ChengLC@orthosurg.ucsf.edu
www.ucsfsurgicaltraining.com
