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Promoting Excellence in Surgical Care Through Education, Training, and Validation

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Consortium Committees

The Consortium of ACS-accredited Education Institutes (AEI) has implemented four committees whose membership is drawn from the Consortium.

Future Committee Meetings

Each of the committees of the Consortium of ACS-accredited Education Institutes (AEI) will meet twice a year in person on the day prior to the annual Postgraduate Course, and the day prior to the Annual Consortium Meeting. Upcoming meetings will be held on the following dates:

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Curriculum Committee of the Consortium of ACS-accredited Education Institutes

Committee Leadership:

Co-Chairs
Brian J. Dunkin, M.D., F.A.C.S.
Daniel J. Scott, M.D., F.A.C.S.

Vice Chair
Sara Kim, Ph.D.

A gap exists in curriculum development, implementation, and validation for practicing surgeons and other healthcare professionals. Such curricula should be based on a thorough needs assessment substantiating this gap and incorporate best practices of clinical practices and educational methods. Validation of curricula should include outcomes measures such as short and long-term changes in performance, quality, safety, and improved patient care. To date, very few programs have successfully addressed these gaps and measured outcomes data. The Consortium of ACS-Accredited Education Institutes (AEIs) represents a powerful collective with significant expertise and is well positioned to facilitate progress in this area.

Background

A gap exists between currently available educational programs for practicing surgeons and other health care professionals and those programs that incorporate structured curriculum development, implementation, and validation. In order to close the gap, all such curricula should be based on a thorough needs assessment and should incorporate best practices for educational methods. Validation of curricula should include outcomes measures such as short and long-term changes in performance, quality, safety, and improved patient care. To date, very few programs have successfully addressed these gaps and measured outcomes data. The Consortium of ACS-accredited Education Institutes (AEIs) represents a powerful collective with significant expertise and is well positioned to facilitate progress in this area.

Vision

The Curriculum Committee of the Consortium of AEIs will facilitate and govern the development, implementation, validation and dissemination of educational curricula for practicing surgeons and other learners in conjunction with measuring performance and patient-care outcomes. The Committee will serve, with delegated authority from the ACS Division of Education, to provide consultation, advice, and support to the Consortium of AEIs in implementing curricula.

Mission

  1. Develop and apply needs assessment methods to identify practice gaps in surgical knowledge and skill across specialties
  2. Identify and develop standards for assessing best practices in surgical education
  3. Identify existing curricula and develop new curricula that incorporate best practices
  4. Identify barriers to curricular implementation and validation (ie, financial, measurement tools, infrastructure, participant and institution buy-in)
  5. Develop models and delivery methods and pathways for widespread curricular implementation (ie, e-learning, hands-on components, etc.)
  6. Develop methods for curricular validation (feasibility, content validity, metrics validation)
  7. Develop instruments and methods for objectively measuring short- and long-term changes in performance for competency verification (e.g., for credentialing purposes)
  8. Develop instruments, methods, and infrastructure for measuring patient-centered outcomes, including short- and long-term outcomes related to quality, safety, and patient care
  9. Work through the ACS Division of Education, to obtain funding (through NSF, AHRQ, ACS, and others) for curricular development, implementation, and validation, including measurement of performance and patient care outcomes
  10. Work through the ACS Division of Education, to dialogue with malpractice and healthcare insurance carriers and relevant industry groups to assist with needs assessment, best practices, and funding opportunities
  11. Work through the ACS Division of Education, to dialogue with the American Board of Surgery to align curriculum and outcome measures with Maintenance of Certification initiatives (Part 2 and Part 4).

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Research and Development Committee of the Consortium of ACS-accredited Education Institutes

Committee Leadership:

Co-Chairs
Mika Sinanan, M.D., Ph.D., F.A.C.S.
Ajit K. Sachdeva, M.D., F.R.C.S.C., F.A.C.S.

Vice Chair
Janis Cannon-Bowers, Ph.D.

Charge:

The Research and Development Committee of the Consortium of ACS-accredited Education Institutes will serve with delegated authority from the ACS Division of Education to provide consultation, advice, and support to the Consortium of ACS-accredited Education Institutes (AEIs).  It will facilitate and govern the conceptualization, development, and implementation of multi-institutional research programs across the AEIs.

Purpose:

  1. To establish an active and meaningful forum for Consortium of AEI Members to develop, catalogue, coordinate, and analyze collaborative research studies. 
  2. To serve as a core leadership group to develop research concepts and interface with funding agencies and industry around shared research and development interests, evaluation of new technologies, and other opportunities.
  3. To help leverage the collaborative power of the Consortium of AEI Members to more rapidly answer research questions relating to the domain of simulation-based surgical education.
  4. To enhance communication among Members of the Consortium of AEIs and between the AEI Members and the ACS Division of Education around investigative efforts.
  5. To develop, with the input of all AEI Consortium Members, a dynamic global strategy (vision) for the direction of research in simulation-based surgical education.
  6. To encourage individual AEI Members to participate in multi-center collaborative research by offering each AEI the opportunity to initiate or participate in at least one multi-institutional research study annually.
  7. To facilitate implementation of uniform curricula and outcomes measures and standardization of devices, to support simulation-based surgical education and training.
  8. To designate research studies approved by the AEI R&D Committeeas “ACS AEI Sponsored,” for grant support, presentations and publications, in order to enhance the credibility and impact of the studies.

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Technologies and Simulation Committee of the Consortium of ACS-accredited Education Institutes

Committee Leadership:

Co-Chairs
Yuri Millo, M.D.
A. Karim Qayumi, M.D., P.h.D., F.R.C.S.C.

Vice Chair
Ivan M. George

Vision:

The Technologies and Simulation Committee of the Consortium of ACS-accredited Education Institutes will serve with delegated authority from the ACS Division of Education to provide consultation, advice, and support to the Consortium of ACS-accredited Education Institutes (AEIs).  It will facilitate and govern the conceptualization, development, and implementation of training platforms and simulation standards across the AEIs.

Mission:

  1. To establish an active and meaningful forum for Consortium of AEI Members to develop, catalogue, coordinate, and analyze to provide technology for collaborative research studies. 
  2. To serve as a core leadership group to develop simulation standards and interface with funding agencies and industry around research and development of the standards and share the information with the medical leadership, evaluation of new technologies, and other opportunities.
  3. To provide technology for helping the collaborative power of the Consortium of AEI Members to more rapidly answer new trends in training relating to the domain of simulation-based surgical education and tea training in the surgical field.
  4. To provide technology for enhancing communication among Members of the Consortium of AEIs and between the AEI Members and the ACS Division of Education around training technologies and simulation standards efforts.
  5. To develop, with the input of all AEI Consortium Members, a dynamic global strategy (vision) for the direction training and adoption of technologies in simulation-based surgical education.
  6. To encourage individual AEI Members to participate in multi-center collaborative research related to technology and standards development by offering each AEI the opportunity to initiate or participate in at least one multi-institutional research study annually.
  7. To facilitate implementation of uniform curricula and outcomes measures and standardization of devices, to support simulation-based surgical education and training.

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Administration and Management Committee of the Consortium of ACS-accredited Education Institutes

Committee Leadership:

Co-Chairs
Sandra J. Feaster, R.N., M.S., M.B.A.
Lisa M. Satterthwaite, R.P.N.

Vice Chair
Troy E. Reihsen

Vision:

The Administration and Management Committee of the Consortium of ACS-accredited Education Institutes will support the credo of the ACS-accredited Education Institutes by offering guidance, education, support and knowledge transfer between global members of the assembly to enhance growth and development of  management and administration of  surgical simulation centers.

Mission:

Development and dissemination operational strategies to the assembly for  establishing or established Accredited Education Institutes to:

  1. Discuss best practice values
  2. Discuss and develop options fundraising approaches
  3. Review legal and liability issues
  4. Discuss human resource guidelines and other business development practices

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Revised July 6, 2011