Technology and Education: The Future of Plastic Surgery Training

Abstract

Surgical education is constantly changing. Recent changes in surgical education have been driven by patient safety. There is a demand for greater accountability to prove surgical competence. These trends have prompted queries on how to best use limited time and resources to maximize resident education. Many plastic surgery programs struggle with balancing clinical, hands-on education with their didactic program. Work duty hour restrictions add another layer of complexity to surgical education. Furthermore, the rate-limiting step in learning is not the transmission of information from the teacher to the learner but rather the processing of the information by the learner. Our changes in surgical education, then, must appreciate information processing by remembering the ancient Chinese proverb that states, “tell me, I forget. Show me, I remember. Involve me, I understand.” The goal of teaching, therefore, should create comprehensive understanding for the residents. Today’s technology can provide the tools to offer environments for residents to learn and understand to a greater degree than that offered to previous generations. Surgical skills laboratories have improved the early acquisition of defined manual skills for residents, but these laboratories are only the start of what educational technology offers. Educational technology is defined as materials and devices created or adapted to solve practical problems related to training, learner assessment, or education administration. Technology in the 1920s involved lectures on the radio. The 1950s brought reel-to-reel audiotape recordings. Eventually, technology moved to compact discs and MP3 players. The 90s changed everything when the internet changed education for evermore. “Flipped” classrooms have become popular and offer learning opportunities 24 hours a day. The current trends in educational technology include internet-based instruction, hands-on simulation devices, mobile devices, virtual and augmented reality, point-of-care learning and assessment, and learning analytics. Indeed, entire hospitals have been developed as simulation centers where every aspect of the care of a patient can be simulated to foster better medical understanding and skills acquisition. Holograms bring interactive learning and involvement of the learner within the surgical environment. Telemedicine combined with holograms brings distant expertise into the surgical suite for learners of all levels. Before entering the operating room, interactive mobile applications allow the residents to practice procedures over and over again to solidify the understanding of each aspect of any given surgery. The practice of surgery is becoming increasingly more complex. Surgical educators need to use innovation and technology to make the best use of data and knowledge to train our next generations of plastic surgeons. Educational technology offers unique tools to help learners acquire and process the information needed to become masters of their surgical specialty.