Simbionix Signs Agreement with the European Association for Endoscopic Surgery

Prague Convention Center, Czech Republic: Simbionix and the European Association for Endoscopic Surgery (EAES) have signed an agreement to collaborate on the development of training materials and assessment tools for a new Laparoscopic Skills Curriculum.

Since its founding in 1990, the EAES has played a leading role in the promotion and dissemination of endoscopic surgery and allied interventional techniques throughout Europe.

Its programs include research, training, and publication of original articles, reviews, consensus conferences and guidelines.

In recent years, the EAES has acknowledged the necessity of developing a curriculum and objective assessment tools for standardizing training in laparoscopic surgery.

To address this need, the EAES has developed a multi-year plan to build a European Laparoscopic Skills Curriculum (LSS), which will comprise both didactic and skills development components, including eLearning and simulation-based assessment elements.

According to the agreement signed last week, the sophisticated LAP Mentor™ simulator from Simbionix will become the exclusive assessment tool for the new curriculum.

Simbionix is also providing its new learning management system, MentorLearn™, which will provide a universal access point to data from the simulator, didactic, and assessment components.

Ran Bronstein, president of Simbionix, expressed excitement about the agreement: "As a leading provider of medical simulators and online medical education, Simbionix understands the importance of providing access to standardized training.

This collaboration, by leveraging the clinical knowledge and experience of the EAES and the innovative technologies of Simbionix, will set a new standard for laparoscopic skills training in Europe."

Professor Fingerhut, the new president of the EAES, adds that this agreement is a landmark in the cooperation between industry and professional societies.

Together, they can address the need for modern teaching and assessment tools particular to the visual transmission of surgical techniques used in laparoscopic and endoscopic interventions.

This agreement also highlights the prominent role played by the EAES, as the leading European laparoscopic and endoscopic professional society, in the field of education.

The development of a training curriculum that can be easily adopted by every country and professional organization in the European Community looks forward to the time when the LSS curriculum becomes the standard for teaching and evaluating interventional skills, not only throughout the ECC, but also in any other countries working with the EAES.

About the EAES

The European Association for Endoscopic Surgery (EAES) was founded in 1990 and since then has become a growing and dynamic organization that will continue to play a leading role in the future of Endoscopic Surgery and Allied Interventional Techniques.

Aside from organizing annual Top Level European Congresses in different European countries, EAES activities in the research, development, training and publication are effected through its various Committees: Educational (training), Research (multicentre studies and clinical trials), Technological (R&D in instrumentation, ancillary equipment, telerobotics and telecommunication), publication (publication of original articles, state of the art reviews, consensus conferences and soon an operative manual), Membership and Public Relations Committees.

The Educational Committee runs EAES training Courses and also endorses training courses in member institutions and hospitals if these meet the criteria set up by the Committee