A pilot study of robotic surgery case videos for first-year medical student anatomy

There has been a recent shift in medical student anatomy education with greater incorporation of virtual resources. Multiple approaches to virtual anatomy resources have been described, but few involve video or images from surgical procedures. In this pilot study, a series of surgical case videos was created using robotic surgery video footage for a first-year medical student anatomy course. Five operations were included that covered thoracic, abdominal, and pelvic anatomy. Students were surveyed at the end of the course regarding their experience with the videos and their perceptions towards a surgical career. Overall, participants agreed that the videos were an effective learning tool, were useful regardless of career interest, and that in the future it would be useful to incorporate additional surgical case videos. Respondents highlighted the importance of audio narration with future videos and provided suggestions for future operations that they would like to see included. In summary, this pilot study describes the creation and implementation of a surgical video anatomy curriculum and student survey results suggest this may be an effective approach to video-based anatomy education for further curricular development.