An essential component of safe surgical practice is the ability for surgeons to make informed, evidence-based decisions across a wide spectrum of clinical scenarios. This project seeks to support the implementation of an innovative online assessment platform to assess surgical decision-making in surgical trainees in central and eastern Africa.

Traditionally, accrediting bodies such as the College of Surgeons of East Central and Southern Africa (COSECSA) have evaluated decision-making skills through oral examinations, which are time- and resource-intensive and can be limited by language barriers and potential bias. 

ENTRUST is an innovative online platform for creating and deploying virtual patient simulation scenarios to objectively assess surgical decision-making competence. In an effort to address the global need for accessible, evidence-based tools, this seed grant team will implement and evaluate the ENTRUST platform during the COSECSA Membership of the College of Surgeons (MCS) Examination in November 2022. Through this project, they hope to optimize ENTRUST for use in low- and middle-income countries (LMICs) and develop a learning platform for self-assessment that can be used by surgical trainees in LMICs around the world.

Principal investigators: Dana T. Lin, MD, FACS; Cara A. Liebert, MD, FACS

Funders: Stanford Department of Surgery

Photo credit: U.S. Army Southern European Task Force, Africa via Flickr