We are delighted to have been invited to collaborate further with GASOC* (whom we already have an established relationship with) and to have been introduced more formally to Prof Jag Dhanda of VRiMS* to help facilitate and contribute to a surgical workstream in Mbeya Zonal Referral Hospital Tanzania. Jag supported the hard work of the GASOC team as they provided very successful, multinational, regional anaesthesia and advanced airways workshops. His exciting virtual reality technology and content adds another layer and depth to the educational experience.
Following that, we then helped the VRiMS team set up a two day surgical specific VR course. It was an exciting glimpse into what the future of surgical education could look like. It offers a blended learning experience in a virtual reality environment including interactive 3D anatomy, lectures and a multi-view, high-definition immersive experience of operative procedures and other clinical encounters. It is particularly interesting to see this in a Global Health setting, breaking down some of the many historical barriers to inequality in healthcare and education. If access to such can be offered to surgeons in low resource settings at zero (or minimal) cost, it has the potential to revolutionise the current landscape of healthcare education.
Not only a very enjoyable two days, it also gave us an opportunity to explore further the potential for incorporating this technology into our work. We are looking at creating some bespoke VR content to replace / augment our current ‘chalk and talk’ components. Whilst sounding ambitious, it seems very achievable with the help of Jag and VRiMS. Watch this space.