Key result
Limited laparoscopy exposure of 20 or 40 minutes did not significantly improve the initial objective performance of medical students on robot-assisted surgical tasks compared to no prior exposure.
Why the study?
The study was designed to evaluate the objective and subjective experience of medical students completing robotic surgery tasks after limited laparoscopy exposure.
Does limited laparoscopy training improve initial performance on robot-assisted surgery tasks in medical students?
Observational (n=23)
No
Does limited laparoscopy training improve initial performance on robot-assisted surgery tasks in medical students?
p-value: p=>0.05
Initial experience of medical students with robot-assisted surgery did not differ significantly after limited laparoscopy exposure, suggesting robotic skills may require dedicated robotic simulation training.
Caution against assuming limited laparoscopy improves early robot-assisted performance; leaves open dedicated robotic simulation needs.
The purpose of the study was to evaluate the objective and subjective experience of medical students completing robotic surgery tasks after limited laparoscopy exposure. Twenty-three medical students without previous laparoscopy and robotic surgery experience self-enrolled into 0 min (n = 11), 20 min (n = 6), and 40 min (n = 6) laparoscopy training groups. Subjects completed rope passing and ball placement tasks on a laparoscopy trainer before repeating similar tasks on the Senhance Surgical System, a robot-assisted digital laparoscopy device. Videos were recorded to evaluate objective measures including time, completion rate, clutch use, out of view instruments, ball drops, and manual adjustments. The NASA-TLX survey was administered to assess subjective experience using workload and task demand measures. There were no statistically significant differences in objective performance between the groups (p > 0.05). Subjects who completed laparoscopy training reported higher workloads, but these differences were not statistically significant (p > 0.05). NASA-TLX workload was correlated with time performance on Pearson and Spearman tests (r = 0.623, rho = 0.681, p < 0.01). Initial experience of medical students with robot-assisted surgery did not differ significantly after limited laparoscopy exposure.
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Vurgun et al. (2020) conducted an observational in Naive learners (medical students) (n=23). Laparoscopy training vs. 0 minutes (no training) was evaluated on Objective performance on robot-assisted tasks (time, completion rate, errors) (p=>0.05). Limited laparoscopy exposure of 20 or 40 minutes did not significantly improve the initial objective performance of medical students on robot-assisted surgical tasks compared to no prior exposure.
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