Computers and Virtual Reality for Surgical Education in the 21st Century

Abstract

urgeons must learn to perform operations. The current system of surgical resident education is facing many challenges in terms of time efficiency, costs, and patient safety. In addition, as new types of operations are developed rapidly, practicing surgeons may find a need for more efficient methods of surgical skill education. An in-depth examination of the current learning environment and the literature of motor skills learning provides insights into ways in which surgical skills education can be improved. Computers will certainly be a part of this process. Computer-based training in technical skills has the potential to solve many of the educational, economic, ethical, and patient safety issues related to learning to perform operations. Although full virtualreality systems are still in development, there has been early progress that should encourage surgeons to incorporate computer simulation into the surgical curriculum.

The future of regional anesthesia education: lessons learned from the surgical specialty

“…For more than 100 years, junior surgeons have been trained by this method, which has become costly, time-consuming, and variable in effectiveness. 6 The drawback of this method of training is its dependence/reliance on the sheer amount of exposure and not on a specifically designed curriculum. 7 In a seminal article by Grantcharov and Reznick, the authors stated that ''see one, do one, is not the best way to teach complex technical procedures needed in many hospital-based specialties''.…”

“…Their study results showed that the group with one hour of simulation training achieved more success than the control group with no simulation training. Looking at different durations of simulation training, Baranauskas et al 6 showed that two hours of simulation training in needling allowed students to perform faster and with fewer mistakes than those who received one hour of training. Similarly, those with one hour of simulation training performed better than those with no simulation training.…”

Usability challenges in surgical simulator training

“…There is a common agreement that simulator training should be part of the laparoscopic surgical training and further in curriculum [8]. This study focuses on a simulator that is designed for training laparoscopic techniques.…”

Estudio observacional de habilidades quirúrgicas en residentes

“…La cirugía, como ciencia y arte, continúa con un progresivo y avasallante avance desde lo científico y técnico; por consiguiente es necesario comprender las nuevas habilidades a obtener desde lo visualespacial, al manipular nuevos procedimientos endovideoscópicos o usar técnicas convencionales más simples 11,12 . Factores que dificultan el entrenamiento quirúrgico son la cambiante población hospitalaria internada como también el amplio rango de enfermedades con terapéuticas quirúrgicas cada vez más complejas 13 , con una presión creciente en la eficiencia o en la disminución de costos 14 .…”