OBJECTIVE This study evaluates whether video-based coaching can enhance laparoscopic surgical skills performance. BACKGROUND Many professions utilize coaching to improve performance. The sports industry employs video analysis to maximize improvement from every performance. METHODS Laparoscopic novices were baseline tested and then trained on a validated virtual reality (VR) laparoscopic cho...

Communication skills are essential for an engineer who aspires to carry out his/her professional practice in the global arena. Engineering communication skills basically constitute several core elements such as the fluency in the English language and the fundamentals of visual communication. Evidence indicates that communication skills are what helped Homo sapiens evolve beyond our related ance...

OBJECTIVE Fundamental skills testing is now required for certification in general surgery. No model for assessing fundamental endovascular skills exists. Our objective was to develop a model that tests the fundamental endovascular skills and differentiates competent from noncompetent performance. METHODS The Fundamentals of Endovascular Surgery model was developed in silicon and virtual-reali...

The challenge of our time is to find a way to preserve the key features of local cultures, such as local worldviews, religious beliefs and values, while developing skills and competencies needed to succeed in the global century. The increasing role of knowledge for determining the standard of living and future prospects for growth is creating a “skill revolution” where certain skills needed in ...

BACKGROUND Objective quantification of surgical skill is imperative as we enter a healthcare environment of quality improvement and performance-based reimbursement. The gold standard tools are infrequently used due to time-intensiveness, cost inefficiency, and lack of standard practices. We hypothesized that valid performance scores of surgical skill can be obtained through crowdsourcing. MET...

The increasingly global sourcing of IT work and other socio-economic trends are prompting fundamental changes in the availability of IT skills needed in both client and vendor organizations. This chapter analyzes the results of a survey conducted in 2005, in which IT executives were asked to describe the skills they felt were critical to keep in house now and in 2008. The top ten current skills...