Refinement of Surgical Training Program Through Creation of Procedural Video Library

Presenter: Stephanie Vaughan, Labcorp

Introduction: The use of video recording of surgical procedures had previously been attempted within the company to reduce travel needs of surgical trainers. Balancing security of sensitive videos and the 3Rs principles has led to a renewed effort to create a video library of surgical procedures to help train the next generation of surgical technicians while reducing the number of animals needed for training.

Methods: To start the beginning of a surgical video library, a canine jugular catheterization with and without VAP procedure was filmed during a non-recovery surgical training session using standard anesthesia regimen for terminal surgical training per species. The film was edited, annotated, and voice-over recorded with the assistance of the company archives department.

Results: With the first film of the library completed, many lessons were learned how to create a useful and applicable training resource. Some of the topics worked through were balancing text and voice over information, finding the best lighting to visualize the procedure, and how best to convey variations in technique.

Conclusion: Multiple surgery teams reviewed the finished surgical video and agreed that there was immense value in continuing the project. The ability to preserve surgical knowledge through turnover and learn surgical techniques using less animals overcome any difficulties with procedure variations across teams.