BackgroundRecent reviews suggest that the way in which surgeons prepare for a procedure (warm up) can affect performance. Operating lists present a natural experiment to explore this phenomenon. The aim was to use a routinely collected large data set on surgical procedures to understand the relationship between case list order and operative performance.MethodTheatre lists involving the 35 procedures performed most frequently by senior surgeons across 38 private hospitals in the UK over 26 months were examined. A linear mixed‐effects model and matched analysis were used to estimate the impact of list order and the cost of switching between procedures on a list while controlling for key prognosticators. The influence of procedure method (open versus minimally invasive) and complexity was also explored.ResultsThe linear mixed‐effects model included 255 757 procedures, and the matched analysis 48 632 pairs of procedures. Repeating the same procedure in a list resulted in an overall time saving of 0·98 per cent for each increase in list position. Switching between procedures increased the duration by an average of 6·48 per cent. The overall reduction in operating time from completing the second procedure straight after the first was 6·18 per cent. This pattern of results was consistent across procedure method and complexity.ConclusionThere is a robust relationship between operating list composition and surgical performance (indexed by duration of operation). An evidence‐based approach to structuring a theatre list could reduce the total operating time.
OBJECTIVE:The ability to simulate procedures in silico has transformed surgical training and practice. Today's simulators, designed for the training of a highly specialized set of procedures, also present a powerful scientific tool for understanding the neural control processes that underpin the learning and application of surgical skills. Here, we examined whether two simulators designed for training in two different surgical domains could be used to examine the extent to which fundamental sensorimotor skills transcend surgical specialty. DESIGN, SETTING & PARTICIPANTS:We used a high-fidelity virtual reality dental simulator and a laparoscopic box simulator to record the performance of three different groups. The groups comprised dentists, laparoscopic surgeons, and psychologists (each group n = 19). RESULTS: The results revealed a specialisation of performance, with laparoscopic surgeons showing the highest performance on the laparoscopic box simulator, whilst dentists demonstrated the highest skill levels on the virtual reality dental simulator. Importantly, we also found that a transfer learning effect, with laparoscopic surgeons and dentists showing superior performance to the psychologists on both tasks. CONCLUSION: There are core sensorimotor skills that cut across surgical specialty. We propose that the identification of such fundamental skills could lead to improved training provision prior to specialization.
No abstract
scite is a Brooklyn-based organization that helps researchers better discover and understand research articles through Smart Citations–citations that display the context of the citation and describe whether the article provides supporting or contrasting evidence. scite is used by students and researchers from around the world and is funded in part by the National Science Foundation and the National Institute on Drug Abuse of the National Institutes of Health.
hi@scite.ai
10624 S. Eastern Ave., Ste. A-614
Henderson, NV 89052, USA
Copyright © 2024 scite LLC. All rights reserved.
Made with 💙 for researchers
Part of the Research Solutions Family.