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Purpose: Incorporating surgical skills education in trauma care is essential for young surgeons and surgical trainees. This study describes an innovative e-learning course for teaching trauma care surgical skills in an international cooperative setting. Furthermore, it aims to offer valuable insights on enhancing e-learning practices., Methods: The Panamerican Trauma Society and the Spanish Surgical Association have joined forces to launch an online course focusing on advanced trauma care surgical skills. This report provides an in-depth examination of the project and scrutinizes participant feedback through a post-course survey. The survey thoroughly evaluates their satisfaction level, the usefulness of the course content, and their view on its clinical relevance., Results: Three hundred eighty-two surgeons from 16 countries completed an online course. Three hundred seventy-nine of them responded to the post-course survey. The mean age was 36, with 64% females and 36% males. The course consisted of 9.9 h of academic content, including 5 h of video lectures and 4.9 h of live discussions. Ninety-seven percent of the participants were practicing general and acute care surgeons, and only 2% were exclusively dedicated to trauma surgery. Sixty-one percent of participants highly valued real-time interaction with faculty, and 95% believed their trauma surgical skills would improve. Additionally, 93% of the participants were satisfied or very satisfied with the e-learning experience., Conclusions: The use of video-based instructional materials has revolutionized surgical education. With online courses in trauma surgery, surgeons can now improve their skills and better prepare themselves to handle severe trauma cases. This innovative approach to surgical education has proven to be very effective and can potentially enhance patients' quality of care., (© 2024. The Author(s), under exclusive licence to Springer-Verlag GmbH Germany.)

Background: Popliteal arterial injuries carry a high risk of amputation. The currently available literature from both civilian and military experiences is characterized by a wide variation of recommendations for surgical management. We questioned how these recommendations have been applied in our practice. Therefore, we aimed to identify predictors of amputation after popliteal arterial injury., Methods: We conducted an observational study of 175 patients with popliteal arterial injuries who underwent surgical treatment from 1992 to 2006 at a level I trauma center in Cali, Colombia. Information on demographic characteristics, clinical information, and surgical management was collected from clinical records. The outcome measure was amputation within 30 days following the first surgical intervention., Results: The amputation rate was 17.1%. A multivariable logistic regression model indicates that blunt mechanism (odds ratio [OR] 4.79, 95% confidence interval [CI] 1.49-15.42), signs of ischemia (OR 5.29, 95% CI 1.48-18.91), ligation of the popliteal vein of the compromised limb during surgical exploration (OR 3.83, 95% CI 1.20-12.18), and the development of arterial thrombosis (OR 56.51, 95% CI 12.36-258) were found to be independent predictors of amputation. Fractures, popliteal venous injuries, prolonged time between injury and surgery, fasciotomies, and graft arterial repair were not statistically significant predictors of amputation., Conclusions: Emphasis on the early assessment and prompt identification of signs of ischemia after popliteal arterial injury continue to be the most important factor for reducing the risk of amputation, especially in blunt trauma. Vascular trauma teams must emphasize the need for the specialized management of popliteal veins. Clinical research is needed in order to identify means of decreasing arterial thrombosis after popliteal repair.