image: NATO battlefield surgery and trauma training courses, as well as practical and simulation-based programs, were among the first activities hosted by Semmelweis University’s newly established Anatomy & Innovation Center for Education and Research (AICER). Opened in April, the facility provides physicians and healthcare professionals with realistic environments for learning and practicing new surgical and diagnostic procedures before introducing them into patient care. The center aims to improve patient safety and quality of care through advanced technologies and hands-on training.
Credit: Photos by Bálint Barta, Boglárka Zellei – Semmelweis University, Budapest, Hungary
NATO battlefield surgery and trauma training courses, as well as practical and simulation-based programs, were among the first activities hosted by Semmelweis University’s newly established Anatomy & Innovation Center for Education and Research (AICER). Opened in April, the facility provides physicians and healthcare professionals with realistic environments for learning and practicing new surgical and diagnostic procedures before introducing them into patient care. The center aims to improve patient safety and quality of care through advanced technologies and hands-on training.
During its first weeks of operation, the center hosted two NATO battlefield surgery and trauma courses. The training programs, organized in cooperation with the Hungarian Defence Forces, NATO, and Semmelweis University, also involved instructors from the United States. Participants practiced the management of severe hemorrhagic injuries and other life-threatening trauma scenarios under realistic conditions. The courses also provided an opportunity to continue the long-standing collaboration between the Hungarian Defence Forces, NATO, and Semmelweis University in a new educational environment.
The first courses also served to test the center’s operating rooms, support facilities, and technical infrastructure under real-life conditions, with participants reporting highly positive experiences.
The center is not limited to military medical training. Its first programs also included oral surgery, orthopedic, and ultrasound-guided joint injection courses. The latter primarily targeted rheumatologists and rehabilitation specialists, enabling them to learn and practice techniques for the safe treatment of various joints in a hands-on setting.
In the coming weeks, the center will host an upper-limb surgery cadaver course, an airway management training program, and a cadaver-based knee surgery pre-course for specialists in traumatology, orthopedics, anesthesiology, and intensive care medicine. The center’s mission is to provide high-quality practical training across a broad range of specialties, from orthopedics and traumatology to rheumatology and critical care.
Training programs are based on cadavers donated for educational and research purposes. These courses allow physicians to master new surgical and diagnostic techniques under highly realistic conditions before introducing them into clinical practice. This directly contributes to improving patient safety and the quality of healthcare delivery.
The center also incorporates innovative educational tools, including disease models, a beating-heart model, and digital cadaver twin technology. Using advanced imaging techniques, detailed digital replicas of cadavers can be created and transformed into three-dimensional virtual models that support surgical education and research.
AICER enables innovative ideas and technologies to progress safely from development to clinical application. The new center is expected to facilitate the introduction of new devices, technologies, and procedures into clinical practice more rapidly while maintaining the highest professional and safety standards.
The current period is considered a pilot phase aimed at fine-tuning the infrastructure and educational processes. In the long term, Semmelweis University intends the Anatomy & Innovation Center for Education and Research to become a leading national and regional hub for practice-oriented healthcare education.
Over the next few weeks, additional specialties - including thoracic surgery, vascular surgery, gynecologic surgery, spinal surgery, abdominal surgery, and endoscopy - will join the training portfolio. In the long term, the center aims to support the practical training of medical students, skills development for residents, and continuing medical education programs for specialists from Hungary and abroad.