New Powe Award Celebrates 21st Century Surgical Skills Training

Dr. Jonathan Altomar, a second-year resident in general surgery, is the Department of Surgery’s first recipient of the Powe Award.

The award goes to the intern with the best performance in the surgical skills competition in the Surgery Simulation Center.

The competition involves virtual as well as inanimate simulations of laparoscopic skills. The stations are timed, and the resident with the best time is declared the winner.

The Powe Award "trophy" – an F-16 pilot helmet – is now a permanent exhibit in the Surgery Simulation Center, according to Dr. William W. Turner, James D. Hardy Professor and chair of the Department of Surgery.

The award is named in honor of Dr. David L. Powe and in memory of Dr. Ralph E. Powe. Dr. David Powe is the associate vice chancellor for administrative affairs and chief administrative officer. His brother, the late Dr. Ralph E. Powe, was vice president of research at Mississippi State University, his alma mater.

The award was established by David Powe’s son, Chris, and by Chris’ colleague, Keith Brown, both of whom are critical care nurse practitioners in the Department of Surgery.

Prior to joining the Medical Center, Dr. David Powe was the director of NASA’s Earth Science Applications Directorate at the John C. Stennis Space Center. During his tenure at the Stennis Space Center, he received NASA’s highest award, the Medal for Outstanding Leadership. He was president of Mississippi Delta Community College before joining NASA in 1992.

"I am really honored and humbled,” Powe said. “I am moved and appreciative for the award because it will develop life-saving skill procedures for future clinical practi-tioners.

“Dr. Turner is to be commended for his vision of high technology application transfer into health care applications. I know my brother would have been very appreciative as I am for this award established by Chris and Keith.”

Ralph Powe was one of the people responsible for forming the Mississippi Research Consortium, a collaboration of four state universities working to promote research and economic opportunities in the state. He was instrumental in establishing the Golden Triangle Enterprise Center, a model for high technology incubators in the state.

"These brothers were achievers who represent the finest examples of cutting-edge technology development and application,” Turner said. “It’s fitting that our award for achievement in the Surgery Simulation Center should be named after them.”

According to Turner, the award celebrates one of the new methods of training in the 21st century: procedural simulation.

“It is my estimation that such training methods will become ubiquitous,” Turner said. “Dr. Altomar was a first-year resident (currently a PGY2) who saw a goal for himself and reached for it. He practiced in the Surgery Simulation Center until he became proficient in the techniques, and he went a step further in using the simulation center to become a master at them.”

Altomar said it was gratifying to win the competition, which takes place annually in the spring and open to all surgical interns.

“Everybody performed very well and only a few seconds separated the top three places,” he said. “The Surgery Simulation Center and training program improves our hand-eye coordination and spatial orientation before we get to the OR. It enables us to hit the ground running and feel comfortable using the instruments once we get to the OR.”

“During Dr. Altomar’s first year, he fulfilled our expectations by a fine performance on clinical rotations and standardized examinations,” Turner said.

Turner said the development of the Surgery Simulation Center has been a part of a long-standing dream of his.

“My wife flew for Delta Airlines for 34 years. As a part of that, I met a lot of pilots. Enviously, as a young surgery professor, I listened to their stories of simulation training, of being able to ‘crash the plane’ every way that was possible, and more important, in the process, to learn how not to crash the plane.

“I dreamt of the day when we might be able to do the same thing to learn surgical techniques. We had to await a ‘surgical cockpit’ (laparoscopic television interface), high-end computer graphics, large computer memory, and high-speed computer processing.

“In some respects, I see infinite possibilities for surgical simulation as we integrate it real-time into operative procedures with robotic surgery.”

Jenny Woodruff (8-15-05)

2005-08-12 00:00:00 2690