eoSurgical has now been in operation for ten years. Time has flown by since our first webcam-in-a-shoebox iteration. This first product was offered on ‘freeware’ terms, giving trainees the design and components needed to build their own laparoscopic simulator at home.
Since the company’s inception, our flagship portable, accessible, and affordable laparoscopic simulator has evolved and improved - and continues to be assembled here in Scotland. The company grew out of our own needs, then as trainees, to improve and learn in a risk-free environment. It is a testament to that ambition that we have now shipped over 1000 simulators to 89 different countries and our curricula are embedded in numerous national and regional training bodies.
Whilst improving the hardware, we pioneered a remote laparoscopic skills curriculum that works in tandem with our bespoke instrument tracking software. This allows us to generate personalised user feedback, key to learning efficiently. We later developed specialty-specific modules and have also incorporated the principles behind NOTSS into our simulator platform.
Nearly 120,000 training activities have been logged on SurgTrac by ~3000 active users in 89 different countries! What is crucial is that we know that this work is translating into improved surgical skills. The evidence base for eoSurgical is compelling and grows and grows. The company’s success has also allowed us to support surgical education via bursary programs to the RCSEd ESSQ MSc program and also through ASIT.
We are proud foremost of the global impact that our simulators continue to have on surgical trainee learning and therefore patient safety. Separately, the knowledge and skills that have come with starting and growing a company (lean logistics, customer support, job creation, and the rest!) have been exciting to develop and also enhance our work as jobbing NHS surgeons. Here’s to the next decade!
Mark Hughes
Consultant Neurosurgeon and Honorary Senior Lecturer, Edinburgh
Director, eoSurgical
Email: mark.hughes@eosurgical.com
Twitter: @eosurgical