Physicians in the Middle East have long pursued continued medical education, whether for credits or not. However, there is now a new and exciting movement in which surgeons can leverage telepresence technology to accelerate the pace of their operating room learning dramatically.
With Proximie's solutions, surgeons in operating rooms across the Middle East and around the world are quickly improving their skills, often learning complex techniques in weeks and months rather than years, says one of the world’s leading spine surgeons who mentors regional physicians across the Gulf, Levant, and North Africa.
Dr. Alaa Ahmad is a paediatric orthopaedic surgeon based in Palestine and the US, with a focus on paediatric spine surgery and a special interest in disseminating knowledge among doctors about the management of spine surgery deformities. He often flies abroad to conduct weeklong paediatric scoliosis case missions, during which surgeons from around the world can observe his surgeries via the Proximie platform.
“Missions today are no longer only about service to patients in need. Now, they are viewed as sustainable programmes designed in collaboration with Ministries of Health and university hospitals to bring doctors' skills up to international standards. And this is where Proximie comes into play; their solution enables continuous, around-the-year learning after my visits which is very important,” says Dr. Ahmad.
Dr. Ahmad’s primary intention in his mission work is not only to provide viewers with the opportunity to learn by observing the scoliosis surgical procedures but also to use the platform as an ongoing learning tool to enable continuous, year-round learning for physicians rather than the few times a year when skilled surgeons are able to make themselves available in person.
“Within two years of a programme starting, Proximie enables participating surgeons to perform complex procedures safely and confidently. With every Proximie procedure recorded and analysed, it can be leveraged for future use. It empowers us as physicians to share knowledge and skills in real-time before, during and after surgery. Proximie is helping to reduce variation in cases and help save lives,” adds Dr. Ahmad.
Typically, doctors learn surgical procedures through collaboration with skilled surgeons who occasionally visit teaching missions, meaning that the learning process becomes protracted and difficult for those wishing to advance quickly. By contrast, Proximie can make this continued support extremely easy and accessible.
“Now, together, we are raising the bar with Proximie. I am proctoring physicians who are doing things they never thought possible, even a few years ago. We do not start from scratch each time we meet with the same doctors. The Proximie platform enables continuous learning, even when I am living and working in another country,” concluded Dr. Ahmad.
Proximie’s solutions have been used at more than 500 hospitals worldwide, supporting thousands of surgical procedures. The company currently operates in more than 50 countries on five continents.
About Proximie:
Proximie is a cloud-based platform that enables hospitals, surgeons, and medical device companies to capture OR data, share information from anywhere, and generate new insights in order to improve outcomes and productivity.
The technology behind Proximie dismantles the bottlenecks that can be due to limited staff, time, and resources by making everything that happens in medical procedures knowable and shareable. Proximie is the first healthcare platform to integrate three key solutions into a single experience: Telepresence, Content Management and Data Insights.
Proximie’s mission is to deliver a connected surgical platform to help provide quality surgical care around the globe. Every Proximie procedure can be recorded, analysed and leveraged for future use to help inform best practices.
Founded by Dr. Nadine Hachach-Haram, Proximie has now conducted tens of thousands of surgical procedures and has been deployed in over 500 hospitals across 100 countries on five continents.
For more information, please visit www.proximie.com or follow @ProximieAR on Twitter and LinkedIn.
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