Wednesday, January 25, 2017
Boston Scientific today announced the launch of the EDUCARE Virtual Training Institute (VTI) for interventional cardiology to enable therapy-focused, peer-to-peer learning exchange. The addition augments the company’s existing offerings of endoscopy, cardiac rhythm management, urology and neuromodulation through the VTI, a non-commercial e-learning platform for procedural training of physicians, technicians and nurses from more than 100 countries.
“Boston Scientific is dedicated to providing basic and advanced procedural training focused on minimally invasive therapies to help healthcare professionals deliver exceptional patient care,” said Dr. Amit Shanker, Chief Medical Officer for Boston Scientific Strategic Medical Affairs, Asia-Pacific, Middle East and Africa (AMEA). “With our comprehensive suite of educational training programs on the VTI, this cutting edge e-platform will complement our exclusive procedural training paradigm and remove geographic barriers. In short, the VTI will be an effective tool to empower education and health care providers and improve patient outcomes.”
Through the VTI, interventional cardiologists can now access detailed information on medical conditions and treatments, ranging from the more common ailments to those that are complex or niche. The physician engagement platform will give physicians across the globe, irrespective of their level of experience, equal opportunity to showcase their best work and share and receive feedback.
Today’s launch of the interventional cardiology suite on the VTI marks the latest addition to the VTI family. Boston Scientific first launched Interventional Gastroenterology/Hepatobiliary on the VTI in December 2015, followed by Cardiac Electrophysiology/Rhythm Management, Urology and Neuromodulation. The platform hosts a range of content, such as procedural videos and animations; case videos and presentations; product how-to-use-and-service videos; therapy and disease focused presentations; medical news highlights; clinical information and training events.
“We are uniquely positioned to offer comprehensive solutions for interventional cardiologists to handle complex percutaneous coronary interventions including (but not limited to) chronic total occlusions (CTO), bifurcation, and small vessel disease. This also includes our marquis structural heart technologies. The VTI will help facilitate this process and provide patients with access to hitherto unavailable therapies,” added Dr. Shanker.
Boston Scientific has nine Institutes for Advancing Science (IAS) globally that provide hands-on training in new technologies and emerging therapies. It trained approximately 16,000 healthcare professionals in the AMEA region in 2016. The VTI complements the face-to-face training programs run in the Boston Scientific IAS facilities around the world.
The VTI is endorsed by the Society for Cardiovascular Angiography and Interventions (SCAI) in the United States. Representing nearly 5,000 interventional cardiologists and catheterization laboratory professionals in over 70 countries, SCAI’s mission is to lead the global interventional cardiovascular community through education, advocacy, research, and quality patient care.
“The guiding principal in everything SCAI does, including our educational efforts, is ‘Does it Save and Enhance Lives?’” said Eric Grammer, SCAI’s senior director of global partnerships. “In the case of VTI, we feel the answer is a resounding ‘Yes’ and the Society views our collaboration with this interactive, digital education platform as a central pillar in our efforts to spread knowledge transfer and standardize quality care worldwide.”
The VTI will also create a comprehensive and holistic knowledge resource and repository for physicians to train other allied healthcare professionals such as technicians, nurses and pharmacists, as well as non-HCP members of their team and for patient education.
About Boston Scientific
Boston Scientific transforms lives through innovative medical solutions that improve the health of patients around the world. As a global medical technology leader for more than 35 years, we advance science for life by providing a broad range of high performance solutions that address unmet patient needs and reduce the cost of healthcare. For more information, visit and connect on Twitter and Facebook.
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