VR surgery technology given AAOS accreditation

Surgical training tech provider FundamentalVR, has announced that all the orthopaedic education simulations available on the Fundamental Surgery platform have been reviewed by the American Academy of Orthopaedic Surgeons (AAOS) and awarded accreditation status.

Named as one of the best inventions of 2018 by Time magazine, Fundamental Surgery is the first educational surgical simulation platform using HapticVR, which combines VR with the sensation of touch. The simulation is able to mimic the physical cues of surgical actions, medical tools and tissue variations to allow surgeons to experience the same sights, sounds and feelings they would in a real procedure. 

The Fundamental Surgery orthopaedic simulations have been planned and implemented in accordance with the accreditation requirements and policies of the Accreditation Council for Continuing Medical Education (ACCME) through the joint providership of the AAOS and FundamentalVR. The AAOS is accredited by the ACCME to provide continuing medical education for physicians. 

The platform measures and records every user interaction to provide data points and analysis. It provides a “surgical skills score” based on both the assimilation of educational material and knowledge as well as “hands on” technical proficiency that is assessed through skills such as the correct angles, depths, attention to the surgical site and more. This scoring methodology is cross-referenced with AAOS’s requirements for competency. Once completing and passing the procedure, a trainee can obtain three AMA PRA Category 1 Credits.

Peter Rainger, chief learning officer of Fundamental Surgery, said: “The AAOS ensures the highest standards of surgical education, offering quality assured courses, online content and other methods of learning. Being recognised as an effective training tool and having our orthopaedic simulations officially accredited by AAOS is another important milestone for Fundamental Surgery. It validates the increasing use of immersive technology, remote and self-proctoring training never more important than now, and will accelerate its benefits in terms of safety, cost savings and speed of knowledge transfer. As we expand our simulation library, we look forward to continuing to work with AAOS to ensure our educational content continues to meet its stringent quality criteria and the needs of trainees and their teachers.”