Resident Endoscopy Experience Correlates Poorly with Performance on a Virtual Reality Simulator.

Area of Science:

• Medical Education
• Surgical Simulation
• Gastroenterology Training

Background:

• Endoscopy training is increasingly emphasized in general surgery residencies.
• The Fundamentals of Endoscopic Surgery (FES) examination includes virtual reality (VR) simulator skills testing.
• The ability of VR simulators to differentiate skills within a resident cohort is not well understood.

Purpose of the Study:

• To assess the utility of VR simulators in differentiating endoscopy skills among surgical residents.
• To evaluate the correlation between resident endoscopy experience and performance on VR colonoscopy modules.

Main Methods:

• Postgraduate residents (years 2-5) completed "easy" and "difficult" VR colonoscopies.
• Performance metrics were recorded and correlated with resident endoscopy experience from case logs.
• Statistical analyses included Spearman's rho and bivariate logistic regression.

Main Results:

• Limited correlations were found between resident endoscopy experience and FES performance metrics.
• No correlations were observed between resident experience and binary metrics like successful colonoscopy completion or retroflexion.
• Withdrawal time under 6 minutes also showed no correlation with experience.

Conclusions:

• VR simulators may have limited ability to discriminate skill levels among surgical residents.
• Further studies are required to clarify the relationship between VR simulator metrics and resident endoscopy experience.