Methodology for Developing an Educational and Research Video Library in Minimally Invasive Surgery

OBJECTIVE: Explore the methods used and costs necessary for the creation and maintenance of a surgical video library with an emphasis on its applications in surgical education and scholarship. DESIGN: A methodology paper highlighting how to develop and utilize a surgical video library for trainee operative preparation, development of research projects, and surgeon credentialing. SETTING: The study was conducted at the University of Pittsburgh Medical Center, a tertiary care medical center. PARTICIPANTS: Not applicable. RESULTS: The video library includes all recorded robotic operations performed by the Division of Surgical Oncology at the University of Pittsburgh from 2010 to 2018. It includes 929 videos of which 110 selected videos are uploaded for trainee review online to prepare for upcoming operations. These procedures are broken into steps to create intraoperative time metrics for trainee integration. Fellows operated from console in 85% of robotic cases and all 30 fellows could obtain robotic privileges based on case logs. To date 102 short scholarly videos have been created: 7 for manuscripts, 13 as video submissions, 27 in book chapters, and 55 for presentations. Three papers have been published using video review to determine clinical outcomes with four more under evaluation. The cost of the program is < $10,000 annually. CONCLUSIONS: Video libraries can be efficiently created utilizing intraoperative recorders for minimally invasive surgery. Breaking surgeries into distinct steps can aid in deliberate integration and answer clinical questions. Overall video libraries are cost effective tools for trainee education, research, and ultimately surgeon credentialing. (C) 2018 Association of Program Directors in Surgery. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.