Evaluation of a Virtual Endoscopy Simulator for Training in Gastrointestinal Endoscopy

Abstract

This virtual endoscopy simulator is capable of identifying differences between beginners and experts in gastrointestinal endoscopy. A 3-week training improves the performance of beginners significantly. This quite fast improvement in endoscopic skills certainly cannot be seen in clinical practice; no conclusions can be made about the impact of virtual simulator training on real-life endoscopy, and this must be evaluated.

Acquiring basic endoscopy skills by training on the GI Mentor II

“…The studies also varied considerably in training time span, type of training, and amount of training. Although this comparison is difficult, the results encountered in our study appear to be consistent with the findings of those studies [7,8,19].…”

“…The novices also improved their performance considerably in relation to other parameters associated with ease of navigation through the colon (e.g., the percentage of time with a clear view and the lost view of the lumen) and the pain level during the procedure (e.g., excessive local pressure and total loop time) (Table 1). This agrees with earlier studies on the learning of tasks related to lower endoscopy on the GI Mentor [7,8,19].…”

“…The GI Mentor II also was considered a valuable addition to the training program for novice endoscopists [20]. Other studies also have established both the face and construct validity of the GI Mentor [8,[17][18][19]. To date, few studies have investigated the learning of lower GI endoscopy skills using the GI Mentor [7,8,19].…”

“…Other studies also have established both the face and construct validity of the GI Mentor [8,[17][18][19]. To date, few studies have investigated the learning of lower GI endoscopy skills using the GI Mentor [7,8,19]. The designs of these earlier studies varied considerably in terms of the focus, tasks included, and sample size.…”

“…The validity of the different systems for lower gastrointestinal endoscopy skills has been studied previously [7,8,12,15,[17][18][19][20][21][22][23][24][25]. However, most of these studies did not focus on the basic tasks first, but included multiple (complex) tasks or used a relative small numbers of participants.…”