VirtaMed launches surgical gynecology simulation suite

Gynecologists to benefit from combined mixed reality training platform for hysteroscopy and gynecological laparoscopy.

The need to learn surgical skills outside the clinical environment has never been greater: COVID-19 pandemic has reduced medical training opportunities in the traditional apprenticeship method, with fewer elective procedures and reduced access for residents to operating rooms. VirtaMed has the world leading validated simulator for hysteroscopy training, and an innovative solution for the acquisition of laparoscopic skills.

Unique to VirtaMed’s Gynecological Laparoscopy Simulator is the ability to correctly position the patient, surgeons and assistant for a gynecological procedure, and to appropriately place trocars. For the first time, this gives the gynecological trainee a simulation set up that reflects what they will encounter in the operating room, rather than inheriting positions derived from general surgery training.

Laparoscopic procedures can be time consuming, and VirtaMed’s innovative approach uses task decomposition to teach key skills needed for ureter identification, tubal patency and ligation, and management of ectopic pregnancies. Organ-specific tissue feedback during tasks such as grasping and cutting, and accurate fluid simulation mirror a real-life experience, allowing for skill translation to the operating room.

VirtaMed’s hysteroscopy training has been updated for 2021 to include 16 cases for MyoSure® tissue removal, added to over 50 cases in diagnostics, polypectomy, myomectomy, tissue ablation and advanced electrosurgical resection. All cases include competency-based objective feedback and a variety of pathologies with increasing procedural difficulty, including complication handling.

“We are especially pleased to provide such a comprehensive simulation training program at a time when training opportunities have been limited by COVID-19,” explained CEO Raimundo Sierra. “VirtaMed’s gynecological simulators have developed so far beyond the initial hysteroscopy simulator that we used to found the company over 14 years ago!”

VirtaMed believes combining the highlights of the new LaparoS™ with all the experience from GynoS™ Hysteroscopy will be a great step forward in safe, realistic, proficiency-based healthcare simulation training for surgical gynecology. The simulator will continue to be aligned with the Accreditation Council for Graduate Medical Education and European Board and College of Obstetrics and Gynecology training guidelines and milestones.

About VirtaMed

VirtaMed is the world leader in data-driven medical education using mixed reality simulators for minimally invasive diagnostic and therapeutic interventions in obstetrics and gynecology, including ultrasound, hysteroscopy, laparoscopy, IUD placement and embryo transfer. VirtaMed simulators provide the most realistic training environment, combining photorealistic graphics with adapted surgical instruments and anatomically correct rubber models.

Physicians around the world use the VirtaMed GynoS™ to learn in a risk-free training environment, and VirtaMed has partnered with medical societies and associations to develop standardized simulation courses using competency-based proficiency assessments and eligible for Continuing Medical Education (CME) Credits.

VirtaMed simulators have been training gynecologists through residency programs, hands-on courses and industry training workshops since 2008. Some of our gynecological surgery industry partners include Medtronic (TruClear™), Hologic (NovaSure® and MyoSure®), Richard Wolf (Princess™) and Karl Storz (IBS® Bigatti).