Association of Program Directors in Vascular Surgery Collaborates with 3D Systems to Provide First-to-Market Hands-on Skill Assessment Exam For Vascular Surgery Trainees

HOUSTON, Oct. 30, 2018 /PRNewswire/ -- The Association of Program Directors in Vascular Surgery (APDVS) is pleased to announce Fundamentals of Endovascular Surgery (FEVS) - a new simulation-based vascular surgery skills training and assessment exam developed through its collaboration with 3D Systems (NYSE: DDD). 

This program is part of a broader curriculum, The Fundamentals of Vascular and Endovascular Surgery (FVEVS), which also includes an open surgical component, The Fundamentals of Vascular Surgery (FVS). The goal of FEVS is to enhance endovascular core skills, objectively assess the skills of vascular surgery trainees, and ultimately improve the ability to qualitatively assess trainees. APDVS anticipates that FEVS will become a requirement for vascular surgery certification.

Although many global rating devices for endovascular procedures have been cited in the literature, at present, no universally accepted device has been adopted by vascular educators. FEVS includes a physical non-anatomical model for hands-on training, and an identical virtual simulation model on 3D Systems' Simbionix ANGIO Mentor virtual reality platform that provides an objective hands-on assessment exam. 3D Systems has unique proficiencies in both 3D printing and virtual simulation. The combination enabled the collaborative development of a physical and virtual model that have been shown to correlate repeatedly by sophisticated testing.

APDVS members - led by Associate Professor Jean Bismuth, MD, and Professor Malachi Sheahan, MD - identified the core set of skills and established a list of tasks related to those skills. The FEVS content has been endorsed by the APDVS and its development and implementation is officiated by The Committee of Fundamentals of Vascular and Endovascular Surgery.  Completing eight successful FEVS tasks will be deemed a pass for having acquired the fundamental skills required to foster more advanced endovascular procedures as noted in this study. 

FEVS follows the example of Fundamentals of Endoscopic Surgery (FES) and Fundamentals of Laparoscopic Surgery (FLS) that teach and assess a standard set of skills to help ensure a minimal standard of care for all patients undergoing laparoscopic and endoscopic procedures, and became a requirement for board certification by the American Board of Surgery (ABS).

"We wanted a tool to test our residents to determine if they have mastered the necessary skills to perform these procedures," said Jean Bismuth, MD. "After the initial launch to 12 programs throughout the US, we hope that we will have a product, with refined logistics, that we will be able to run in all programs around the country. The goal is that it will be not only a mandated training program but also a mandated exam, and students will not be able to graduate if they don't pass the criteria in this program."

Furthermore, Malachi Sheahan, MD, noted, "It is imperative that we have the ability to objectively assess the technical skills of our trainees.  With FLS, a program that has been mandated since 2004, valuable lessons have been learned. We are simply translating those lessons into vascular surgery. Our hope is to encourage residents' mastery of fundamental skills early in training so they have a better foundation and longer window to learn complex open and endovascular procedures."

Forward-Looking Statements

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About the Association of Program Directors in Vascular Surgery (APDVS): The membership of the Association of Program Directors in Vascular Surgery (APDVS) includes more than 100 directors of vascular surgery residency programs in the United States.  APDVS addresses the educational, regulatory, and financial issues that impact the education of future vascular surgeons, and plays a critical role in setting the standards of vascular surgery curriculum.

About 3D Systems: 3D Systems is the originator of 3D printing and an innovator of future 3D solutions. It has spent its 30-year history enabling professionals and companies to optimize their designs, transform their workflows, bring groundbreaking products to market and drive new business models. This is achieved with the Company's best of breed digital manufacturing ecosystem. It's comprised of plastic and metal 3D printers, print materials, on demand manufacturing services and end-to-end manufacturing software solutions. Combinations of these products and services address a variety of advanced applications- ranging from Aerospace, Automotive, and Consumer Goods to Medical, Dental, and Jewelry. For example, 3D Systems' precision healthcare capabilities include simulation, Virtual Surgical Planning, and printing of medical and dental devices as well as patient-specific surgical instruments. For more than 20 years, Simbionix training simulators have maintained their foothold as the most broadly available clinically validated simulators. The ANGIO Mentor training simulator is widely used in hospital and industry training programs – featuring more than 30 different endovascular procedures and more than 230 patient scenarios. More information on the company is available at www.3dsystems.com.

SOURCE Association of Program Directors in Vascular Surgery (APDVS)