STIL Personnel Exhibits New Simulator at APSA Conference in San Antonio
Wednesday, 06 June 2012
Katherine Barsness, MD, a pediatric surgeon at Children’s Memorial Hospital and an assistant professor at Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine, and Lauren Davis, a member of the Simulation Technology and Immersive Learning’s Innovations Lab, attended the American Pediatric Surgical Association’s (APSA) Annual Meeting in San Antonio, Texas, from May 20-23 to showcase their Thoracascopic Tracheoesophageal Fistula (TEF) Simulation Trainer.
The goal of the trip was to determine if the simulator could benefit medical education by having the model exhibited and tested by pediatric surgeons and fellows attending the conference. According to Davis, “We collected data to validate the simulator as an educational tool. It was really exciting to see the surgeons react to their experience using the model. We had very positive feedback.”
The Thoracascopic TEF Simulation Trainer recreates the procedure performed by pediatric surgeons on infants to repair a disconnect in the upper and lower esophagus, which prevents the normal passage of food from the mouth to the stomach. The disorder occurs in approximately one out of every 4000 births.
With the conference over, Dr. Barsness and Davis will analyze their collected data, and further test the effectiveness of the simulator with other doctors.
You can learn more about the APSA’s Annual Meeting by visiting their website here. To learn more about the work being done in the Innovation’s Lab, click here. For the latest updates on STIL, please follow us on Twitter at @NorthwesternSim.