Related Experiment Video
Updated: May 4, 2026
Emergency Undocking in Robotic Surgery: A Simulation Curriculum
Published on: May 20, 2018
Training to maintain surgical skills during periods of robotic surgery inactivity
Loredana M Guseila1, Archana Saranathan, Eric L Jenison
1Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology, Akron General Medical Center, Akron, OH, USA.
Background:
The study was performed to establish a level of practice needed for newly-trained residents to maintain robotic surgical skills during periods of robotic inactivity.
Methods:
Ten surgical residents were trained to a standardized level of robotic surgery proficiency with inanimate models. At the end of two, four and six weeks, the residents practiced with the models for a total of one hour. Each resident performed a timed tissue closure task immediately after reaching the proficiency standards and twice in succession at eight weeks. Time to completion was compared between the three trials with a repeated measures ANOVA and a post-hoc test.
Results:
Average time to complete the tissue closure task decreased by more than 25% over the period between reaching the proficiency standards and the trials at eight weeks, with the difference significant (P < 0.004).
Conclusions:
Biweekly practice for one hour was sufficient to maintain robotic surgical skills.
