Did you know that Manual Small Incision Cataract Surgery (MSICS) remains one of the most commonly performed surgeries worldwide? Did you know that an efficient utilization of MSICS at high-volume surgical centers has been shown to be effective in delivering high quality outcomes? Training ophthalmologists to perform the MSICS procedure safely and efficiently has major ophthalmic public health significance worldwide!

One of the exciting elements of the COS Annual Meetings are the scientific lectures and the Wet Lab.  This year Dr. Van Lansingh, MD, will discuss the “Manual Small Incision Cataract Surgery (MSICS) Surgical Simulation Learning Environment”, and describe the current state of high-fidelity simulation based MSICS training. Specifically, the HelpMeSee Simulator.

If you participated in the MSICS Simulator Wet Lab at Lake Junaluska in 2017, you might be thinking, “Oh, I’ve already seen that.”… It’s not the same.  You will see marked advancements that have taken place since then.  Take a look at this article in Nature that found novice surgeons learning in a VR simulation-based training curriculum, using the HelpMeSee Eye Surgery Simulator, made fewer errors while performing tunnel construction in their first 20 procedures in the operating room compared with surgeons in a conventional training curriculum.

You can watch a short 3-minute video here to learn more about the technology.  Better yet, come to Florida and see for yourself!