The IMPACT Surgical Skills Trainer: Using Deliberate Practice to Maintain Specialized Surgical Knowledge and Skills During Deployments

While on deployment, many military surgeons spend the bulk of their time performing trauma surgery. Because combat deployments frequently average one full year, such prolonged lapses in practice can degrade specialized knowledge and skills. This becomes a major problem upon the surgeons’ return stateside, when they are expected to resume their surgical specialty duties with little or no re-credentialing. The envisioned product of this SBIR is the IMPACTTM Surgical Skills Trainer, a deployable, SCORM-compliant training program that will help military surgeons maintain their specialty knowledge and skills. During Phase I, Aptima will conduct a cognitive task analysis (CTA) to identify the critical training needs. Next, Aptima will develop a fully-functional training program with a representative set of learning modules. Finally, Aptima will develop plans for evaluating IMPACTTM’s effectiveness during Phase II. During Phase II, Aptima will fully develop the remainder of the IMPACTTM training content and add new system functionality to enhance the learning experience. The end result will be a surgical training curriculum that is specifically designed to help deployed surgeons minimize specialized knowledge and skill decay.