ORLANDO, FL USA (UroToday.com) - Significant improvement to surgical simulation technology has been made in recent years. Using these technologies to develop specific applications and curricula is an important area of effort for resident training. This study by Hung and colleagues continues work that was discussed at last year's AUA Annual Meeting. They describe their training program for robotic partial nephrectomy developed for the Mimic dV-Trainer, and report results of their validation study.
Working with Mimic Technologies, they've developed a specific training program for robotic partial nephrectomies. The simulation interface includes narrated videos of partial nephrectomies that ask users to identify relevant anatomy, demonstrate technique, and answer specific questions relating to operation steps at specific time points.
In their validation study, they enrolled 28 novice (no prior robotic cases) and 10 expert (≥ 30 robotic cases) participants. Experts rated the simulation's modules as realistic and helpful, and completed the tasks more accurately and efficiently when compared with novices.
This work demonstrates validity in teaching surgical anatomy during specific instructional modules during use of a surgical simulator. Further integration of exercises and modules such as these may improve the efficiency with which surgical trainees are able to accurately learn and begin to identify structures intraoperatively. As learning to find ideal surgical planes remains a challenge for trainees, this presents an interesting aid and is another step in the path to maximizing training using new technologies.
Presented by Andrew J. Hung at the American Urological Association (AUA) Annual Meeting - May 16 - 21, 2014 - Orlando, Florida USA
Department of Urology, University of Southern California, Los Angeles, CA USA
Written by Martin Hofmann, MD, University of California (Irvine), and medical writer for UroToday.com
