Objective assessment in residency-based training for transoral robotic surgery

Area of Science:

• Robotic Surgery
• Surgical Training
• Otolaryngology

Background:

• Robotic surgery requires specialized training and objective skill assessment.
• Current training methods may lack detailed assessment of human-machine interface skills.

Purpose of the Study:

• To develop and evaluate a robotic surgery training regimen with objective skill assessment for otolaryngology and head and neck surgery trainees.
• To investigate the application of this training for transoral robotic surgery (TORS) of oropharyngeal tumors.

Main Methods:

• Prospective, blinded data collection and objective evaluation (Objective Structured Assessment of Technical Skills [OSATS]) over three training phases.
• Utilized da Vinci robotic surgical system with motion and event data capture.
• Compared trainee performance against expert baseline and assessed learning curves.

Main Results:

• Training improved robotic knowledge and clinical efficiency in setup and console manipulation.
• Significant reduction in skill gap between trainees and experts across training modules.
• Automated skill measures and expert assessments showed consistent learning curves.

Conclusions:

• Structured robotic surgery training with objective assessment enhances human-machine operations and surgical skills.
• This approach allows for customized training models and improved training efficiency.
• Objective assessment enables identification of skill mastery, optimizing training progression.