Application of International Videoconferences for Continuing Medical Education Programs Related to Laparoscopic Surgery

Background:Continuing medical education (CME) is an effective way for practicing physicians to acquire up-to-date clinical information.Materials and Methods:We conducted four CME seminars in 2007-2010 endorsed by the Chinese Medical Association Council on Medical Education. Overseas telelectures and live case demonstrations were introduced in each seminar via telemedicine based on a digital video transport system. Network stability and packet loss were recorded. An anonymous mini-questionnaire was conducted to evaluate the satisfaction of attendees regarding the image and sound quality, content selection, and overall evaluation.Results:Four telelectures and five live case demonstrations were successfully conducted. Stability of the network was maintained during each videoconference. High-quality videos of 720x480 pixels at the rate of 30 frames per second were shown to the entire group of attendees. The time delay between Shanghai and Fukuoka, Japan, was only 0.3s, and the packet loss was 0%. We obtained 129 valid responses to the mini-questionnaire from a total of 146 attendees. The majority of the attendees were satisfied with the quality of transmitted images and voices and with the selected contents. The overall evaluation was ranked as excellent or good.Conclusions:Videoconferences are excellent channels for CME programs associated with laparoscopic training.