Guys and St Thomas’ SaIL Centre adopt LapAR

Guys and St Thomas’ is recognised as a world leading institute for medical care, training and innovation and their hospitals have a long and proud history within the surgical arena. The SaIL centre, based at the St Thomas’ site, is one of the leading and largest medical simulation centres in the UK. This state-of-the-art education centre is dedicated to delivering high fidelity simulation and clinical skills training.  A wide range of courses are run for both undergraduate and postgraduate multi-disciplinary healthcare professionals.

The team at the SaIL centre are always on the look out for the most cutting edge simulation technologies and true to form they have become the latest major simulation centre in the UK to adopt the LapAR high fidelity laparoscopic simulation platform. Having adopted the LapAR Pro and take home models the centre are now able to offer a more affordable and scalable high fidelity laparoscopic training programme, unlocking the ability to run distance learning courses with the capability of tracking trainees progress remotely.

In addition to the LapAR high fidelity simulators the centre has also introduced a large number of the pyxus HD simulators, the original ‘take home box trainer’ from Inovus Medical. The adoption of the pyxus HD increases the SaIL centre’s capacity for high volume wet and dry lab training both on site and at home by the trainees.

Dr Elliot Street, Inovus CEO said, “Guys and St Thomas’ is well-known for being at the leading edge in surgical training innovation. Their adoption of LapAR further validates Augmented Reality as the future for high fidelity surgical skills training. The installation of LapAR at the SaIL centre opens the door for local trainees to access this cutting-edge technology, helping them to develop their surgical skills and assist them in going forward to deliver the best surgical care possible.”

Francis Ugwu, Surgical Innovation and Simulation Fellow, Guy’s and St Thomas’ NHS Foundation Trust said “We are using LapAR at GSTT to provide trainees with much needed surgical training opportunities. We have set up a laparoscopic skills curriculum that trainees can progress through without the need for direct supervision. The metrics provided by the LapAR are great to track performance and progression, and the programme has been well received by both trainees and trainers”.