Digitalization within the MME study program - teaching and assessment of communicative and interprofessional skills in the Heidelberg module via video conference together with a virtual OSCE course.

Background: Due to the corona pandemic, we conducted the Heidelberg module of the Master of Medical Education (MME) study program, which focuses on teaching and assessment of communicative and interpofessional skills, digitally for the first time. Method: We outsourced the teaching to a pre-module phase in the weeks upfront. During the module week, the lecturers picked up again and deepened the topics and the participants created, revised and simulated a virtual OSCE course. Results/Conclusion: Evaluation and reflection of the module showed that the digital implementation including an OSCE examination can be an appropriate alternative to a classroom-based training. However, important elements of the MME program that provide networking possibilities and personal exchange can only be replicated in the digital environment to a limited extent. In the future, sensibly applied digital components can be used to enrich the study program.

Volumetric Assessment of Pediatric Vascular Malformations Using a Rapid, Hand-Held Three-Dimensional Imaging System.

The effect of percutaneous, surgical, and medical therapies for vascular malformations (VMs) is often difficult to quantify volumetrically using cross-sectional imaging. Volumetric measurement is often estimated with serial, expensive MRI examinations which may require sedation or anesthesia. We aim to explore whether a portable 3D scanning device is capable of rapid, accurate volumetric analysis of pediatric VMs. Using an iPad-mounted infrared scanning device, 3D scans of patient faces, arms, and legs were acquired over an 8-month study period. Proprietary software was use to perform subsequent volumetric analysis. Of a total of 30 unilateral VMs involving either the face, arms, or legs, 26 (86.7%) VMs were correctly localized by discerning the larger volume of the affected side compared to the normal contralateral side. For patients with unilateral facial VMs (n = 10), volume discrepancy between normal and affected sides differed compared with normal controls (n = 19). This was true for both absolute (60 cc ± 55 vs 15 cc ± 8, p = 0.03) as well as relative (18.1% ± 13.2 vs 4.0% ± 2.1, p = 0.008) volume discrepancy. Following treatment, two patients experienced change in leg volume discrepancy ranging from - 17.3 to - 0.4%. Using a portable 3D scanning device, we were able to rapidly and noninvasively detect and quantify volume discrepancy resulting from VMs of the face, arms, and legs. Preliminary data suggests this technology can detect volume reduction of VMs in response to therapy.

A safe, low-cost, easy-to-use 3D camera platform to assess risk of obstructed labor due to cephalopelvic disproportion.

Cephalopelvic disproportion (CPD)-related obstructed labor is accountable for 3-8% of the maternal deaths worldwide. The consequence of CPD-related obstructive labor in the absence of a Caesarian section (C/S) is often maternal or perinatal mortality or morbidity to the mother and/or the infant. Accurate and timely referral of at-risk mothers to health facilities where C/S is a delivery option could reduce maternal mortality in the developing world. The goal of this work was to develop and test the feasibility of a safe, low-cost, easy-to-use, portable tool, using a Microsoft Kinect 3D camera, to identify women at risk for obstructed labor due to CPD. Magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) scans, 3D camera imaging, anthropometry and clinical pelvimetry were collected and analyzed from women 18-40 years of age, at gestational age ≥36+0 weeks with previous C/S due to CPD (n = 43), previous uncomplicated vaginal deliveries (n = 96), and no previous obstetric history (n = 148) from Addis Ababa, Ethiopia. Novel and published CPD risk scores based on anthropometry, clinical pelvimetry, MRI, and Kinect measurements were compared. Significant differences were observed in most anthropometry, clinical pelvimetry, MRI and Kinect measurements between women delivering via CPD-related C/S versus those delivering vaginally. The area under the receiver-operator curve from novel CPD risk scores base on MRI-, Kinect-, and anthropometric-features outperformed novel CPD risk scores based on clinical pelvimetry and previously published indices for CPD risk calculated from these data; e.g., pelvic inlet area, height, and fetal-pelvic index. This work demonstrates the feasibility of a 3D camera-based platform for assessing CPD risk as a novel, safe, scalable approach to better predict risk of CPD in Ethiopia and warrants the need for further blinded, prospective studies to refine and validate the proposed CPD risk scores, which are required before this method can be applied clinically.