Is the aptitude of manual skills enough for assessing the training effect of students using a laparoscopy simulator?
- Resource Type
- article
- Authors
- Zielke, Andreas; Hassan, Iyad
- Source
- GMS German Medical Science, Vol 3, p Doc11 (2005)
- Subject
- virtual reality
laparoscopy simulator
learning
minimal-invasive surgery
surgical training
Medicine
- Language
- German
English
- ISSN
- 1612-3174
Background: The aim of this study was to determine if students are suitable candidates to assess the learning effect through a virtual reality laparoscopy simulator (LapSim®). Materials and methods: 14 medical students in their final year without any previous experience with a virtual reality simulator were recruited as subjects. In order to establish a "base line" all subjects were instructed into the "clip application" task - a basis module of the laparoscopy simulator - at the beginning of the study. They were then randomized into two groups. Group A (n=7) had parameter adjusted to an easy level of performance, while group B (n=7) was adjusted to a difficult level. In both levels, errors simulated clinically relevant situations such as vessel rupture and subsequent bleeding. Each participant had to repeat the clip application task ten times consecutively. Results: The mean time for completion ten repetitions was 15 min pro participant in group A and 20 min in group B. From the first to the fifth repetition group A improved significantly the task completion time from 238.9 s to 103.3 s (p