Neurosurgery is the branch of surgery that involves the highest accuracy. We live the last days of classical surgery in neurosurgery; the new, minimally invasive treatment alternatives must be known, accepted and used globally. The general trend is towards less invasive approach, which improves patient outcomes, recovery time and quality of life. Neurosurgery, due to its complexity, is not included in the curricula of most of bachelor programmes in Medicine, thus, students do not get any orientation when faced with their employment in a Neurosurgical Department. Participating in international workshops is still a big financial challenge for resident doctors and physicians, making the training and access to state-of-art information impossible due to financial and no other reasons. Having carefully analyzed the context and the needs in the field, BrainIT project AIMS to: 1. Employ the strategic use of ICT technologies in teaching/training activities by using a telemedicine approach to create an innovative best practice environment in the form of a 3D live-transmission from Operation Rooms where students can experience non-invasive surgery procedures. 2. Create interactive teaching and training aids for students using 3D reconstructions of the skull and brain on various pathologies. 3. Besides offering a modern way of delivering specialist education the program will improve competences of students and resident doctors participating in the program, as the remote part of the program will be accompanied by 14 days ‘traineeships’ in a working hospital, where they will get to real life work experience accompanying the whole diagnostic process. This will increase their practical skills in neurosurgery, giving them relevant knowledge and assets required by the labour market, for when they decide to have a career in this domain. 4. Create a reader-friendly online platform which can facilitate the access of students, graduates, residents and even physicians without material possibilities to new technologies and new discoveries in neurosurgery. This will allow anyone regardless of their status or situation to get free, unrestrained access to high quality information. 5. Create freely-available “Brain Revealed - Handbook for Students and Practitioners” that will mainly comprise all the important information delivered during the three years project. 6. Make a closer connection between European neurosurgery centers. Transnational collaboration at this time is not a strong one, at least in the case of Romania, the neurosurgery centers are limited to a national collaboration. This project requires transnational highly specialized know-how and expertize which is hard to be found in a single country. Considering the state-of-the-art in the training in neurosurgery, BrainIT project aims to provide the following innovations: 1: Design, implement and pilot a modular, INNOVATIVE INTENSIVE STUDY PROGRAMME, a hands-on workshop of a very high complexity for the students, combining microsurgery techniques with working on real-life 3D simulated neurosurgical pathologies. Besides, during the ISP, telemedicine in the form of 3D live-transmission will available of the BrainIT e-platform, which will allow students to experience non-invasive surgery procedures. 2: Design, test and implement INNOVATIVE PEDAGOGICAL APPROACHES - i.e. 3D printing molds for simulation of surgical interventions, hands-on sessions, team-based learning, problem-based learning, blended learning for theoretical study, on the spot guidelines, personalized leaning and treatment options and management, case presentations, all developed in a working hospital Participants in the ISPs will get real, useful practical competences fitted for the labour market, which will directly benefit them in their future career in neurosurgery. 3: Intersection between MEDICINE and BIO-ENGINEERING for the use of 3D printing technology for simulation of surgical interventions, creating 3D didactic materials that will integrate modules of the existing medical computed tomography (CT) on different types of neurosurgical pathologies; Participants will simulate surgical interventions, seeing and understanding pathologies from a perspective that has not existed before. 4: Through BrainIT project we will easily facilitate a CLOSE CONNECTION BETWEEN EUROPEAN NEUROSURGERY CENTERS AND HEIs, as with the new technological breakthroughs, a single medical center can no longer be updated with all the therapeutic methods and this is why many therapeutic alternatives often remain hidden for many department. The composition of the consortium was based on the correspondence between the tasks to be completed and the partners' expertise. All the project partners have been selected according to their expertise in NEUROSURGERY and 3D RECONSTRUCTIONS (FEM analysis and modeling, stereolithographic and FDM) and to their capacity of providing professional training to the target group
Neurosurgery is the branch of surgery that involves the highest accuracy. That is why a transition from classical surgery in neurosurgery; to the new, minimally invasive treatment alternatives must be known, accepted and used globally. The general trend is towards less invasive approach, which improves patient outcomes, recovery time and quality of life. Neurosurgery, due to its complexity, is not included in the curricula of most of bachelor programmes in Medicine, thus, students do not get any orientation when faced with their employment in a Neurosurgical Department. Participating in international workshops is still a big financial challenge for resident doctors and physicians, making the training and access to state-of-art information impossible due to financial and no other reasons. Having carefully analyzed the context and the needs in the field, BrainIT project aimed at: 1. Employ the strategic use of ICT technologies in teaching/training activities by using a telemedicine approach to create an innovative best practice environment in the form of a 3D live-transmission from Operation Rooms where students can experience non-invasive surgery procedures. 2. Create interactive teaching and training aids for students using 3D reconstructions of the skull and brain on various pathologies. 3. Besides offering a modern way of delivering specialist education the program, improving the competences of students and resident doctors participating in the program was one of the main goals, as the remote part of the program was accompanied by 14 days ‘traineeships’ in a working hospital, where they got to experience real life work accompanying the whole diagnostic process. This way the participating students were able to increase their practical skills in neurosurgery, giving them relevant knowledge and assets required by the labour market, for when they decide to have a career in this domain. 4. Create a reader-friendly online platform which can facilitate the access of students, graduates, residents and even physicians without material possibilities to new technologies and new discoveries in neurosurgery. This was available to anyone regardless of their status or situation to get free, unrestrained access to high quality information. 5. Create freely-available “Brain Revealed - Handbook for Students and Practitioners” that was mainly comprise all the important information delivered during the three years project. 6. Make a closer connection between European neurosurgery centers. Transnational collaboration at this time is not a strong one, at least in the case of Romania, the neurosurgery centers are limited to a national collaboration. This project enhanced the transnational highly specialized know-how and expertise which is hard to be found in a single country. Considering the state-of-the-art in the training in neurosurgery, BrainIT project aimed to provide the following innovations: 1: Design, implement and pilot a modular, INNOVATIVE INTENSIVE STUDY PROGRAMME, a hands-on workshop of a very high complexity for the students, combining microsurgery techniques with working on real-life 3D simulated neurosurgical pathologies. 2: Design, test and implement INNOVATIVE PEDAGOGICAL APPROACHES - i.e. 3D printing molds for simulation of surgical interventions, hands-on sessions, team-based learning, problem-based learning, blended learning for theoretical study, on the spot guidelines, personalized learning and treatment options and management, case presentations, all developed in a working hospital. Participants in the ISPs gained real, useful practical competences fitted for the labour market, which will directly benefit them in their future career in neurosurgery. 3: Intersection between MEDICINE and BIO-ENGINEERING for the use of 3D printing technology for simulation of surgical interventions, creating 3D didactic materials that have integrated modules of the existing medical computed tomography (CT) on different types of neurosurgical pathologies; Participants simulated surgical interventions, seeing and understanding pathologies from a perspective that has not existed before. 4: Through BrainIT project CLOSE CONNECTION BETWEEN EUROPEAN NEUROSURGERY CENTERS AND HEIs was facilitated, as with the new technological breakthroughs, a single medical center can no longer be updated with all the therapeutic methods and this is why many therapeutic alternatives often remain hidden for many department. The composition of the consortium was based on the correspondence between the tasks to be completed and the partners' expertise. All the project partners have been selected according to their expertise in NEUROSURGERY and 3D RECONSTRUCTIONS (FEM analysis and modeling, stereolithographic and FDM) and to their capacity of providing professional training to the target group