This was evidenced by the number of studies presented at this year’s World Congress of Endourology conference examining the impact of surgical simulation training.
Urologists from Dundee, UK demonstrated that the use of portable laparoscopic simulators improved surgical skills acquisition among medical students over those with no access to such simulators. The authors demonstrated improved dissection, cutting, retraction, and suturing skills; in particular, the quality of tasks performed was significantly better.
Another group from the UK demonstrated that a simulation-based robotic surgery training curriculum, which includes dry lab part-task model training and simulator-based training, was not only comparable to traditional training methods in terms of cognitive and technical skill proficiency, but cost 25% less than traditional training. The same group also presented research examining the utility of a prototype targeted gaming platform to improve laparoscopic skills acquisition. They found that those utilizing the prototype simulator, which targets gaze control and forced exertion in hostile environment platforms, completed laparoscopic tasks faster and better.
Also:
Forced gaze control by simultaneous camera drive and target task narrows skill acquisition curve
by Phillip James
Presented by Thomas Johnston at the 29th World Congress of Endourology & SWL (WCE) - November 30 - December 3, 2011 - Kyoto International Conference Center - Kyoto, Japan
Reported for UroToday by Jason Y. Lee, MD, FRCSC, St. Michael’s Hospital, University of Toronto, Toronto, ON Canada
View Full WCE 2011 Meeting Coverage
