Newswise — LOS ANGELES (Dec. 3, 2018) - For the first time, a 360-degree virtual reality (VR) Continuing Medical Education (CME) accredited course in GI surgery is available for streaming to surgeons and medical professionals.

The course is a collaboration between medical experts at Cedars-Sinai and GIBLIB, the streaming media platform offering the largest library of on-demand medical lectures and surgical videos in the newest formats.

Employing 4K and 360-degree virtual reality, GIBLIB content closely emulates operating room environments, featuring surgeon points-of-view and other angles to showcase support provided by the surgical team. While viewing the procedures on a VR headset, course attendees experience a fully immersive, 360-degree panoramic perspective of the operating room complete with multiple angles, including digital overlays such as patient imaging and laparoscopic and robotic camera feeds.

"We are excited to bring Cedars-Sinai medicine virtually to any doctor at any medical facility," said Harry Sax, MD, executive vice chair of the Cedars-Sinai Department of Surgery. "With this technology, other medical professionals can learn our advanced techniques and procedures and ultimately, deliver excellent care to patients across the country."

The Essential GI Surgeries course offers 25 hours of high-definition, fully narrated surgical procedures featuring the latest in laparoscopic and robotic techniques demonstrated by experts from Cedars-Sinai. Cedars-Sinai's gastroenterology and GI surgery specialties are ranked No. 3 by the 2018 Best Hospitals edition of U.S. News & World Report.

"Virtual reality allows viewers to be fully immersed in the operating room without having to travel across the world for specialized training," said Miguel Burch, MD, chief of Minimally Invasive and GI Surgery at Cedars-Sinai. "This efficient, innovative technology provides an online, backstage pass for trainees anywhere."

Each video in the Essential GI Surgeries course is filmed by GIBLIB with surgical precision, incorporating multiple angles and perspectives with exact edits to highlight the most important aspects of each unique procedure. The course will further shape modern-day surgical theater by scaling the observational learning process for doctors through digital innovation.

"We are honored to serve the global medical community as a complementary educational service with the largest streaming medical content library available and the first CME-accredited virtual reality content," said Brian Conyer, CEO and co-founder of GIBLIB.

Healthcare professionals can access the course by subscribing to giblib.com.

Cedars-Sinai is an Accreditation Council for Continuing Medical Education (ACCME) provider and was awarded "Accreditation with Commendation" in December of 2017. Cedars-Sinai has achieved exemplary status in four consecutive surveys.