Welcome & Letter of Intent

The U.S. Army Medical Research and Materiel Command (USAMRMC), on behalf of COL Karl E. Friedl, Director of The Telemedicine and Advanced Technology Research Center (TATRC), welcome all participants and attendees to the “Continuing Clinical Competency” Meeting held prior to the 18th Annual Medicine Meets Virtual Reality (MMVR) conference held in Newport Beach, CA. This meeting is co-chaired by the Trauma Portfolio, Dr. Thomas Knuth, and the Medical Simulation and Training Portfolio, Dr. Kevin Kunkler. This is a one day event held at the Newport Beach Marriott Hotel and Spa in Newport Beach, CA. on Wednesday, February 9th, 2011.

This event will predominately focus on deterioration of skills / decay of skills for surgeons, anesthesiologists, and interventionists who either have returned from an extended leave or are in preparation to perform specialized procedures. Additionally, discussion on pre-leave / pre-deployment preparations will be discussed. The forum will lead to what are some of the issues, all the way to what some of the Professional Societies view as appropriate recommendations.

An underlying theme to the topic of “Continuing Clinical Competence / Deterioration of Skills” is the role of simulation systems, whether currently commercialized or state of the art tools and technologies to better enable healthcare providers. The purpose of the meeting is not to have a firm plan of action in place at the end of the day, but rather to collect information and comments within this forum to potentially better understand what the current gaps are and to hear what directions thought leaders are currently pursuing. Collection and analyzing of this data may help steer future programs and requests.

The day will kick-off with an overview from the TATRC Command. Dr. Kunkler followed by, Dr. Knuth will provide an overview of the day and then present, “Problems to be solved and anticipated outcomes”. The day will have four (4) key panels: 1) Gaps and Needs:  Identified and/or Perceived, 2) Evaluation – Metrics & Validation Process, 3) Perspective Data Points – Individual/Group (Teams), & 4) Testing & Certification – Recommendation. After each panel discussion, a panel moderator will lead the question session for which all in the audience will be offered an opportunity to ask the expert panelists in the respective areas their opinions. In addition, we are honored to have a distinguished luncheon speaker, Mr. Richard Boyd, Chief Architect, of Lockheed Martin Virtual World Labs, who will be presenting, “Simulated Clinical Environments and Surgical Training”.

This meeting will be followed by a special evening networking reception, to which you are invited.

We hope that this meeting will foster the creation of solutions, whether through technology, standardization, curriculum, and other advancements to this issue within the healthcare community. The intent is to not make confusion or to “add” responsibilities to individuals who are already burdened with their current responsibilities. Patient’s first,  remains the priority.

Our intent is to have a productive meeting with lively positive commentary discussions and for all participants in the audience to learn more about this topic of “Continuing Clinical Competency”.

We thank you for being here and hope that you enjoy the day!

Sincerely,