Foundations of Clinical & Minimally Invasive Procedural Medicine

Where procedural practice begins

Every procedure in surgical and aesthetic medicine rests on a small set of fundamental skills: a clean field, a well-placed local anesthetic, a safe puncture, a secure knot, a patient who is watched and a record that is kept. These skills are often learned informally, by watching and repeating, and gaps in them tend to show only when something goes wrong.

Foundations of Clinical & Minimally Invasive Procedural Medicine is designed as the practical entry point to the Academy’s curriculum for physicians without procedural experience, and for those returning to procedures after time away. It applies the Rafiee Educational Approach at its most elementary level: assess before acting, prepare before touching, and know from the start when not to intervene and when to ask for help.

What the program covers

The six modules follow the course of a basic procedure. The first sets up asepsis, antisepsis and the sterile field, the conditions every later step depends on. The second covers local anesthesia, infiltration and injection technique; the third, venipuncture, peripheral IV access, puncture, aspiration and drainage. The fourth introduces basic sutures and surgical knots as fundamentals, not yet as aesthetic closure.

The fifth module gathers what keeps the patient safe around all of these: basic monitoring, clear clinical documentation, the management of minor complications and the recognition of warning signs that call for escalation or referral. The sixth is less a topic than a method: simulation, anatomical models and supervised basic procedural practice, where the skills of the other five are rehearsed.

How it is taught

The program is designed to follow the Academy’s teaching progression: foundational knowledge and demonstration first, then repetition on simulation and anatomical models, where error carries no risk to patients, and only then supervised practice where local regulation allows it. Feedback is designed to accompany each stage. Learning is to be assessed across knowledge, technical skill, patient safety and decision-making, as set out in the assessment framework, which is itself in development.

Its place in the curriculum

The overlaps between programs are deliberate. This program teaches basic sutures and knots; Wound-to-Scar™ develops wound management and aesthetic closure; Aesthetic Surgical Skills for Physicians develops advanced aesthetic surgical technique. The safety habits introduced here, such as clear documentation and the recognition of warning signs, are taken further in Clinical Aesthetic Practice & Patient Safety, which develops the early recognition and management of complications. How procedural skills are learned and assessed, through simulation, feedback and objective assessment, is the subject of the planned program Clinical Simulation, Procedural Skills & Assessment.

Current status

The program is in development. It is built on the Rafiee Educational Approach, whose framework has been developed; format, dates and venue have not been announced and will be published on this page. Registering interest is the way to hear first and to tell the Academy what your practice needs.

No procedure is too small to be done properly: a clean field, a safe dose, a secure knot, a clear record and the judgment to stop.