Surgical education and Internet‐based simulation: The World Virtual University

The new means and modalities of communication and information technologies have significantly revolutionized access to surgical education. The introduction of the Internet information highway into mainstream clinical practice as an information sharing medium offers a wide range of opportunities to healthcare professionals. High‐speed Internet broadcasting allows the display of high‐quality full‐screen videos. Access to surgical procedures through the Internet already plays a major role in continuing medical education nowadays and will undoubtedly be gaining grounds in the future. WebSurg.com, the World Virtual University, a web‐based surgical university, is dedicated to minimally invasive laparoscopic surgery. Using brand‐new multimedia data, the electronic university provides thorough descriptions of over 150 procedures in minimal access surgery and 265 videos of surgical interventions. Such a teaching tool recreates all the prerequisites and requirements of a traditional School of Medicine, incorporatin...