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Healthcare Students' Attitude toward Robotic Surgery: A Cross-sectional Survey
Yousef A Alhamaid1, Mohammed Yousef Alessa2, Mohammed Alhanfoush2
1Department of Emergency Medicine, Imam Abdulrahman Bin Faisal University, King Fahad Hospital of the University, Khobar, Saudi Arabia.
Introduction:
Modern robotic surgery is practiced worldwide due to its advantages, including short hospital stay, reduced complications, and good cosmetic results. However, several limitations remain, including high costs, large instrument sizes, and provider ignorance. In Saudi Arabia, where the first robotic surgery was performed in 2003, the awareness of practice is limited. The paper intends to survey Saudi healthcare students' perception of robotic surgery to make industry improvements.
Methods:
A cross-sectional online survey was conducted from March to April 2024 that was distributed across regions targeting Saudi healthcare students. The questionnaire, through Google forms and social media, recorded the sociodemographic characteristics, knowledge, and awareness of robotic surgery. This employed a nonprobability convenient sampling technique, where the sample size in this study was 396 participants, calculated using the OpenEpi online sample size calculator. The ethical approval was obtained, and participants gave their informed consent.
Results:
Out of the 396 participants, 47% did not have any robotic surgery background and 63% did not know about robotic surgery centers in Saudi Arabia. However, 54.55% were willing to accept it for themselves and 43.43% believed patients in Saudi would be willing. Furthermore, 40.40% agreed that Saudi Arabia should invest in expanding robotic surgeries. The majority of the students acquired their information from the Internet (66.1%) and medical colleges (31.2%). There were significant differences in attitudes toward robotic surgery related to future fields of interest and tech-savviness.
Conclusion:
The study found positive attitudes among Saudi healthcare students regarding robotic surgery, yet with gaps in formal education and awareness. Comprehensive modules for robotic surgery must therefore be integrated into healthcare training programs to prepare students for new technological developments. Such a deficiency in education and rise in investments could together improve the adoption and effectiveness of this technology in the healthcare system of Saudi Arabia.
