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Fast or safe? The role of impulsiveness in laparoscopic simulator performance
Bas Kengen1, Wouter M IJgosse1, Harry van Goor1
1Department of Surgery, Radboud University Medical Center, Geert Grooteplein zuid 10, 6525 GA, Nijmegen, Gelderland, the Netherlands.
Background:
Little is known about the relation between impulsiveness and surgical performance even though research in similar high-risk/high-skills shows evidence of more hazardous behavior by impulsive professionals. We investigated the impact of impulsiveness on laparoscopic simulator performance.
Methods:
Eighty-three subjects participated in a four-session laparoscopic training course. Based on the Eysenck Personality test, we created equal sized high- and low impulsiveness groups and compared task duration and errors on tasks for two laparoscopic simulators.
Results:
The low impulsiveness group outperformed the high impulsiveness group on damage on the LapSim virtual reality trainer (U = 459, p < .049), and showed a trend towards better error performance on the FLS videotrainer. We found no differences on task duration.
Conclusions:
In surgical simulation training, high impulsiveness is associated with creating more damage, but not with faster performance. Time needed to correct errors may have obscured faster performance in the high impulsiveness group.
Summary For The Table Of Contents:
Subjects were divided into high- and low impulsiveness groups based on the Eysenck Impulsiveness Inventory test. Performance (time and errors) were compared between groups for tasks on the LapSim virtual reality trainer and FLS videotrainer. Low impulsive subjects outperformed high impulsive subjects on errors.
