In a program designed to increase safety and
effectiveness of cosmetic surgery, officials of
the
Johns Hopkins School of Medicine and the National
Cosmetic Network, a company specializing in
medical video production and distance learning, have joined
in a new initiative to provide free,
Internet-based, live-patient specialty training for the
more than 400 surgical residents enrolled in
accredited plastic surgery training programs in the United
States.
The program is a fully accredited Continuing Medical
Education course developed by Johns
Hopkins specialists in plastic and reconstructive surgery
with invited faculty from around the country.
NCN provides the delivery system for the program, which
consists of filming surgical procedures and
programming Web-based and DVD-assisted course work.
Details of the program were announced to members of
the Association of Academic Chairmen of
Plastic Surgery on Oct. 27, during the annual meeting of
the American Society of Plastic Surgeons in
Baltimore.
"Making it possible for all plastic surgery residents
to observe and learn from leading experts in
the field is an important way to raise the level of patient
safety and professionalism in cosmetic
surgery," said Stanley A. Klatsky, associate professor of
plastic surgery at Johns Hopkins and co-chair
of the JHU/NCN program with Paul Manson, professor and
chief of Plastic and Reconstructive
Surgery at Johns Hopkins.
The program will be funded by in-kind grants from the
two entities, valued at more than
$750,000, with no financial support from industry. Upon
completion of the course, physicians can take
a post-test to receive CME credit from Johns Hopkins.
According to project directors, distance learning
opportunities for medical professionals offer
efficient and effective training at lower cost than
traditional surgical and medical conventions and
meetings.
Launched in 2005, JHU/NCN distance learning programs
were originally distributed only on
DVD, but advances in technology have now made it possible
to deliver high-quality surgical instruction
through the Internet.
"Surgeons need to see anatomical detail in the context
of live surgery demonstrations, and until
recently the only way to get this kind of quality
experience outside of an operating room has been
through a DVD format," said William Mays, NCN's chief
executive officer. "Now, surgeons have the
additional option of logging onto the member area of our
Web site, selecting a program and either
viewing it as streaming video or downloading it to watch
later on a computer or iPod, and the quality is
still there."
"Cosmetic surgery is an area of plastic surgery
training that is highly dependent upon exposure
to a variety of cases as well as observation of different
clinicians and their individual approaches,"
said Manson. "This poses a challenge for residency
programs, making distance learning an important
component of training."
For more on the JHU/NCN live surgery programs, go to
www.nationalcosmeticnet.com.
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