Task completion time: Objective tool for assessment of technical skills in laparoscopic simulator for urology...

Area of Science:

• Urology
• Surgical Education
• Medical Simulation

Background:

• Laparoscopic surgical simulation is crucial for training urology residents.
• Objective assessment tools are needed to evaluate skill acquisition in simulation.

Purpose of the Study:

• To validate task completion time (TCT) as an objective metric for assessing technical skills in laparoscopic surgery simulation.
• To evaluate the TCT's effectiveness in a simulated environment for urology trainees.

Main Methods:

• Fifteen urology trainees (postgraduate residents, fellow, consultants) performed four basic laparoscopic tasks 10 times each.
• Task completion time (TCT), the sum of individual task times, was measured for each attempt.
• Statistical analysis included Pearson's correlation and student's t-test.

Main Results:

• Average TCT decreased significantly from 76.5 minutes on the first attempt to 33 minutes on the tenth attempt.
• A strong negative correlation (r = -0.91, P < 0.001) was observed between the number of attempts and TCT.
• Correlation strength diminished slightly when comparing later attempts (6th-10th).

Conclusions:

• Task completion time (TCT) is a practical, easy-to-use, and valid objective tool.
• TCT effectively assesses the acquisition of technical skills in simulated laparoscopic surgery for urology trainees.