Advanced Distributed Learning in Support of the Maintenance of Certification (MOC) of Surgical Skills

Maintenance of certification and clinical competence for deployed military medical personnel presents formidable challenges. SimQuest, a small business with an established track record in innovative technology-assisted educational approaches and products, will successfully link the military medical personnel requiring maintenance of competence in general surgery and their hierarchy with the certifying organization, the American Board of Surgery (ABS), to develop a credible plan for innovative approaches to sustaining and maintaining competence while deployed and upon reinsertion into continental United States (CONUS) practice following deployment. A detailed assessment of specific end-user needs and constraints will guide the development of a plan that can be accepted by the certifying agency. An advanced distributed learning (ADL), adult student-centered, case scenario-based product involving intelligent tutoring and assessment will be proposed with various components tuned to specific end-user needs. An “open” platform will enable game-based, compelling contributions from various sources. This platform will be designed to be integrated with other CME and recertifying initiatives, particularly those that are being proposed in conjunction with the ABS and with SimQuest’s surgical skills training assessment platform.