Attempted establishment of proficiency levels for laparoscopic performance on a national scale using simulation: the results from the 2004 SAGES Minimally Invasive Surgical Trainer—Virtual Reality (MIST-VR) learning center study

Abstract

Proficiency levels for laparoscopic skills have now been established on a national scale by experienced laparoscopic surgeons using the MIST-VR simulator. Residency programs, training centers, and practicing surgeons can now use these data as guidelines for performance criterion during MIST-VR skills training.

Methods and Tools for Objective Assessment of Psychomotor Skills in Laparoscopic Surgery

“…Moreover, they are capable of performing unsupervised assessment of trainees in a whole range of efficiency and quality parameters. Nevertheless, these studies are in many cases scarce, and others report negative [124][125][126] or inconclusive results [77]. This is often the case considering the high variability between studies, concerning participants, definition of surgical levéis, and in general the experiments' contour conditions (previous training in the system, number of repetitions allowed, etc.).…”

EVA: Laparoscopic Instrument Tracking Based on Endoscopic Video Analysis for Psychomotor Skills Assessment

“…Minimally invasive surgery (MIS, e.g., laparoscopy) techniques have been the focus of much attention in recent years [1][2][3][4][5]. The main motivation for MIS is to provide safer surgeries for the patient's benefit.…”

“…Halsted-based training is gradually being replaced by structured training programs to optimize the learning curves, time, and efficiency of residents [3]. New learning models state that the direct involvement of residents to real surgeries should be postponed until they have acquired the necessary cognitive and psychomotor skills [4,6]. In this context, the first stages of basic psychomotor skills training take place in controlled laboratory settings by means of box trainers and virtual-reality simulators [2,5,7].…”

Should surgical novices trade their retractors for joysticks? Videogame experience decreases the time needed to acquire surgical skills

“…A lower score corresponds to a better performance. Proficiency benchmarks were set within one standard deviation of expert levels, according to previously published validation studies [5,6]. Specifically, the expert levels on the MIST-VR 1 were based on the performance of the same tasks at medium difficulty by surgeons who had each performed greater than 100 laparoscopic procedures [6].…”