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Trainee
surgeons who add virtual reality (VR) training to standard
‘apprenticeship’ training in key-hole surgery learn more quickly, work
with greater accuracy and have less errors than those with no VR
training, and perform as well as those who use additional video
training. The finding of this Cochrane Systematic Review is important
because training surgeons is time-consuming and costly, and surgeons
have to develop new skills while working within the hour-limits set by
European legislation.
More and more abdominal surgery is now performed using laparoscopes –
instruments introduced into the patient’s body through small incisions
in the skin. This means that surgeons experienced in conventional
surgery need to train with the new equipment, as well as newly qualified
doctors who are at the beginning of their surgical careers.
The Royal College of Surgeons runs training courses that let a surgeon
see what a procedure involves. With the arrival of desktop computing
that has high graphic capability, software developers have built
programs that enable the trainee to interact with the images. “This
greater level of involvement gives the possibility that surgeons will be
able to develop skills more rapidly,” said Kurinchi Gurusamy, who works
at the University Department of Surgery at the Royal Free Hospital,
London.
To assess the impact of VR training, Gurusamy and colleagues searched
for published research studies that compared VR training with other
methods of training. They then undertook a detailed analysis of all the
randomised trials that addressed this issue. There were 23 trials in
total involving a total of 612 participants. The data clearly
demonstrated the benefits of VR training.
“If we are going to meet the requirements of the European Working Time
Directive, which effectively decreases the time available for training
surgeons, as well as the Department of Health’s modernising medical
careers initiative, we need to develop highly efficient means of
teaching new surgical skills. Virtual reality techniques may fulfil that
need,” said Kurinchi.
Full citation: Gurusamy KS, Aggarwal R, Palanivelu L, Davidson BR.
Virtual reality training for surgical trainees in laparoscopic surgery.
Cochrane Database of Systematic Reviews 2009, Issue 1. Art. No.: CD6575.
DOI: 10.1002/14651858.CD006575.pub2. |
