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

The rapid increase in the growth of surgical knowledge and the introduction of new technologies have made the idea of giving a written recertification examination every ten years to measure surgical skill competency seem archaic and inadequate. A new set of requirements that physicians must adhere to in order to maintain their certification status started in 2005. The new program is called ABMS Maintenance of CertificationÒ (abbreviated MOC). In MOC, there is a requirement to continuously participate in learning, self-assessment, and practice improvement. Satisfying this aspect of MOC is very difficult for military surgeons deployed outside CONUS who do not have access to traditional learning environments like professional meetings and courses. Using an innovative mix of reusable intelligent tutoring functions, comprehensive analysis, adaptive learning approaches, engaging learning content, Advanced Distributed Learning strategies, and American Board of Surgery approved medical curriculum, SEI seeks to demonstrate a commercially viable solution that enables surgical personnel to engage in lifelong learning to gain clinical knowledge and skills within their specialty while in deployed status.