When I was a medical student, if you told me that one day I would get to interview a Professor of Digital Neurosurgery, I don’t know if I would have believed you. Yet, here we are! Dr. Thomas Picht is the first person in the world to hold that distinguished title, and my conversation with him was fascinating. One of Dr. Picht’s many roles includes serving as the director for the Berlin Simulation and Training Center at Charite University Hospital. Here, residents can train with digital simulations indistinguishable from an actual surgical experience.
Changing the landscape of neurosurgery education
Individualized learning has proven to be an extremely effective method of teaching students, no matter the subject. That becomes difficult to achieve when each student has specific needs and a large amount of material to learn. Enter Dr. Picht and the Berlin Simulation and Training Center at Charite University Hospital. Using augmented reality, residents can enter hybrid or virtual training simulations to hone their skills. There is an obvious benefit to this technology in a classroom setting. However, students can also access specific simulations 24/7 to improve their manual skills.
That absolutely changes the landscape of neurosurgery education. Imagine being able to perform a risky surgery like a subpial dissection for the first time with the confidence of having performed it hundreds of times virtually. Dr. Picht is convinced that these technologies will not only bring most residents to a high level of surgical care but will also help identify truly gifted residents earlier in their careers
The logistics of simulated learning
So how does Dr. Picht know that his students are learning? While there isn’t a definitive way to identify the improvement of manual skills, Dr. Picht assured me that various benchmarks allow him and his team to assess progress. For example, in a herniated disk simulation they can track the number of corrections made, how smoothly specific anatomical structures are addressed, and how fluently those steps are performed.
Another great benefit of simulation training is that it’s not just limited to the inexperienced. With so many new technologies in the medical field, long-time surgeons could benefit from some risk-free virtual training. There’s also nothing wrong with getting extra practice and keeping our skills sharp. As Dr. Picht said, we can always improve. While digital neurosurgery may be new to me, I’m excited for the day when this level of training is commonplace.