Developing a Robotic Surgery Curriculum: Selection of Virtual Reality Drills for Content Alignment

Area of Science:

• Surgical Education
• Medical Simulation
• Robotic Surgery Training

Background:

• Robotic surgery simulation-based training lacks standardized curricula.
• A new virtual reality (VR) platform (SimNow) offers 33 drills without established validity.
• Assessing VR drill validity is crucial for developing effective robotic surgery curricula.

Purpose of the Study:

• To evaluate the validity of 33 SimNow VR drills for robotic surgery training.
• To establish a content-based curriculum for robotic surgery using validated VR drills.
• To identify and address skill gaps in existing VR surgical simulation platforms.

Main Methods:

• Three expert robotic surgeons performed content mapping of 33 VR drills, assessing 15 core surgical skills.
• Drills were rated on difficulty, usefulness, relevance, and uniqueness.
• Drill selection for the curriculum was based on expert consensus and learner data, with grouping by skill and complexity.

Main Results:

• The 33 drills covered 12/15 skills as primary and 13/15 as secondary goals.
• Twenty drills were selected for the curriculum, addressing 11/15 skills as primary and 11/15 as secondary goals.
• Skills like energy source use, atraumatic handling, and suturing were underrepresented; 3 validated inanimate drills were added.

Conclusions:

• Twenty SimNow VR drills form a content-validated foundation for a robotic surgery curriculum.
• Three supplementary drills were incorporated to address identified deficiencies in skill coverage.
• This study provides evidence-based selection criteria for robotic surgery VR training modules.