Wearable recording video technology for surgical training in living donor liver transplantation

As the development of surgical video recording technologies, educational videos have become widely utilized for trainee education. However, the current forms of surgical video are limited because they do not show all the roles of the participants. Aim of this study is to make optimal training material about living donor liver transplantation for residents and fellows using wearable recording system.

Three video clips about procedure of liver transplantation were made. A head mount was used to fix the camera on the surgeon or assistant's head. Anastomosis of vessels, bench operation and trocar insertion for laparoscopic donor hepatectomy were recorded. Each video clips were edited including indicators, subtitles, and narration. The edited videos were shown to 20 General Surgery trainees (18 residents, 2 fellows) and we received feedback. The results of the questionnaire were quantitatively analyzed to show how efficient and informative it is compared to existing educational materials.

Sixteen of the 20 trainees (80%) responded that this video helped them improve their surgical skills. Eighteen trainees (90%) responded that they gained new knowledge through this video. Sixteen trainees (80%) responded that the action camera image material was more educational than existing text-based and video-based materials, with an average score of 8.5 and 6.5 (action camera materials vs. text-based materials, respectively).

A head-mounted action camera video recording system is a good model for making high-quality educational video modules and can be a useful teaching tool for living donor liver transplantation.