3D Systems develops standardized curriculum for bronchoscopy in collaboration with CHEST
 THE CHALLENGE
Lung cancer is the leading cause of cancer death among men and women with 1 out of 4 cancer deaths. Each year, more people die of lung cancer than colon, breast and prostate cancers combined. Overall, the chance that a man will develop lung cancer in his lifetime is about 1 in 14; for a woman, the risk is about 1 in 17. These numbers include both smokers and non-smokers. 1

Statistics on survival in people with lung cancer vary depending on the stage of the cancer when it is diagnosed.2Patients diagnosed early are twice as likely to live five or more years compared to those diagnosed with late-stage cancers. If lung cancer is caught before it spreads, the likelihood of surviving 5 years or more improves to 55%.3 Early detection can decrease lung cancer mortality by 14%-20% among high-risk populations.4

These facts have massive implications on the importance and necessity of educating physicians in being able to diagnose lung cancer in the present and the future.

THE SOLUTION
To improve clinical performance and patient outcomes through education, 3D Systems has joint forces with the American College of Chest Physicians (CHEST) in creating ‘The CHEST Standardized Curriculum for Bronchoscopic Essential Skills and Diagnostic Bronchoscopy’ on the BRONCH Mentor virtual reality simulator.

The CHEST curriculum is aimed at providing trainees with the educational opportunity to learn and demonstrate fundamental bronchoscopic skills as well as clinical knowledge and informed decision making. The standardized curriculum is comprised of two segments and practiced either in the free Training Mode or in the test-like Assessment Mode.

The Essential Skills segment of the curriculum provides designated skill tasks to accelerate the trainee's learning curve while acquiring and integrating fundamental bronchoscopic capabilities.

The Clinical segment of the curriculum combines cognitive knowledge content and clinical decision making quizzes with hands-on performance of bronchoscopic simulation. Cognitive skills and psychomotor skills are challenged and assessed as one continuous entity.
 The performance of all parts are captured and reported upon completion.

THE OUTCOME
The CHEST Standardized Curriculum Module for Essential Bronchoscopic Skills and Diagnostic Bronchoscopy was designed to provide medical professionals and students the ability to safely learn and demonstrate hands-on bronchoscopic skills, as well as develop their clinical knowledge to foster informed medical decision-making and procedural performance.

“We are pleased to partner with 3D Systems to deliver a standardized interventional pulmonology curriculum, allowing individual programs to offer training that’s been validated through CHEST’s hands-on simulation programs. This partnership is a strong example of CHEST’s commitment to providing essential education and resources at critical times for the chest medicine community.” said Senior Vice President of Education of CHEST, Nicole Augustyn.5

“This program can be used by hospitals and training programs to assist in the training of physicians involved in bronchoscopy. We are hopeful that through this program it will be used and eventually certify physicians in the use of bronchoscopy.” said Dr Eric Endell, CHEST faculty member.6

As both cognitive knowledge and pyschomotor skills education in bronchoscopy play a crucial part in diagnosing pulmonary diseases, this innovative educational curriculum provides physicians with the tools to improve patient outcomes.