Minimally invasive surgery (MIS) is gaining popularity as technology advances. Robot-assisted surgery represents an increasing share of MIS in the field of gynecology as well as urology and other surgical specialties. Overall, MIS has some advantages, such as decreased blood loss, less postoperative pain, shorter hospital stay, better visualization, improved postoperative recovery, and better cosmetic outcomes, compared with open surgical cases. Robotic surgery has additional technical advantages, such as 3D viewing and better dexterity compared with conventional laparoscopy. The presence of robot-assisted surgery is projected to grow in the various surgical fields. Thus, teaching robot-assisted surgical skills is becoming part of the curriculum of surgical residency programs nationwide. To create well-structured residency training, determining future surgeons' hand-eye coordination skills is a necessity (1). One of the main disadvantages of robotic surgery is that surgeons must operate without tactile sense. Therefore, simulation training is necessary to improve the outcome of initial hands-on experiences to avoid errors and malpractice. Video games have been discussed previously in the English medical literature for the development of laparoscopic skills to improve the learning curve in simulators and in surgery (2). The idea originated from studies that pointed out that video game playing was associated with improved reaction time, spatial visualization, and mental rotation (3, 4). Although some authors were unable to show the beneficial effects of video game playing on the ability to learn robotic suturing (5), other studies concluded that training on video games appeared to improve laparoscopic skills (6-8). Our group previously demonstrated that residents with prior laparoscopic suturing experience may learn more quickly from robotic surgery training than those with less laparoscopic surgery experience (9). Medical schools are currently educating a generation of students who played video games from the beginning of their childhoods. They have more ability than their older counterparts to adapt to technological developments, and their experience using computers and video game consoles may afford them an advantage in their baseline eye-brain-hand coordination skills. We therefore hypothesize that these visuospatial skills acquired from playing video games can be adapted to learning robotic surgery skills. To test this hypothesis, we Objective: To evaluate the impact of current and prior video game playing on initial robotic simulation skill acquisition.
Material and Methods:This cross-sectional descriptive study (Canadian Task Force Classification II-1) was conducted at a medical university training center. The study subjects were medical students who currently played video games (Group I) and those who had not played video games in the last 2 years (Group II). The robotic skills of both groups were assessed using simulation.Results: Twenty-two students enrolled in this study; however, only 21 completed it. ...