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Learning curves of basic laparoscopic psychomotor skills in SINERGIA VR simulator.
L F Sánchez-Peralta1, F M Sánchez-Margallo, J L Moyano-Cuevas
1Bioengineering and Health Technology Unit, Jesús Usón Minimally Invasive Surgery Centre, Cáceres, Spain. lfsanchez@ccmijesususon.com
Summary
This study on the SINERGIA laparoscopic virtual reality simulator found that while most basic psychomotor skills improve rapidly early in training, eight sessions are insufficient for complete skill acquisition. Further development of training programs is recommended.
Area of Science:
- Medical Education
- Surgical Simulation Technology
Background:
- Surgical simulators are crucial for laparoscopic training, offering a safe and repeatable environment for skill development.
- Virtual reality simulators like SINERGIA provide objective metrics to assess psychomotor skill acquisition.
Purpose of the Study:
- To determine the learning curve for basic laparoscopic skills using the SINERGIA virtual reality simulator.
- To analyze skill progression across five distinct tasks within the simulator.
Main Methods:
- Thirty novice medical students participated in eight training sessions (R1-R8) over two days.
- Performance was evaluated on five SINERGIA tasks: Coordination, Navigation, Navigation and touch, Accurate grasping, and Coordinated pulling.
- Statistical analysis compared results from sessions R1, R4, and R8 using the Wilcoxon signed-rank test (P < 0.005).
Main Results:
- Significant improvements (84.38%) were observed in simulator metrics between the first (R1) and last (R8) sessions.
- Most performance gains occurred early, with 75% of metrics improving between R1 and R4, compared to 37.50% between R4 and R8.
- Tasks like Coordination and Navigation and touch showed universal metric improvement, while Navigation showed improvement in 60% of metrics.
Conclusions:
- The learning curve for basic laparoscopic psychomotor skills in SINERGIA demonstrates rapid initial improvement.
- Eight training sessions are insufficient for mastering all skills trainable within the SINERGIA simulator.
- SINERGIA is a valuable training tool when integrated into a well-structured educational program.
