Innosuisse supports medical training simulators

The Swiss innovation agency Innosuisse has awarded a grant of 12 million francs over the next four years in support of the public-private project PROFICIENCY. According to a press release from VirtaMed, a Schlieren startup involved in the project, the aim is to shift primary training in surgery away from the operating room towards simulation.

“With the PROFICIENCY project, we want to advance simulator-based continuing education in surgery,” explains Prof. Bruno Schmied, M.D., Chief of Surgery at the Cantonal Hospital of St. Gallen, who is involved in the project, “The innovative continuing education program – analogous to the training and continuing education of pilots on flight simulators – will decisively improve surgical continuing education in open and minimally invasive surgery.” 

Alongside surgical simulator specialist VirtaMed, the consortium of project partners also includes from the Greater Zurich Area Microsoft Schweiz GmbH, the University of Zurich with Balgrist University Hospital, the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology in Zurich (ETH) and Zurich University of Applied Sciences (ZHAW). Other partners from Western Switzerland are Lausanne University Hospital (CHUV), healthcare simulation expert ORamaVR S.A. and Atracsys LLC for measurement systems in mobile robotics.

Innosuisse has reportedly committed financial support for 15 ongoing projects as part of its Flagship Initiative, including PROFICIENCY. In total, 85 Swiss research partners and 221 implementation partners, such as companies and non-profit organizations, are involved.