Slovenská chirurgia 3/2013

Applicability of short-term basic laparoscopic skills virtual reality training module in pregraduate education

Aims: To assess applicability of short-term basic laparoscopic skills virtual reality training module in pregraduate education. Material and methods: Students enrolled into prospective experimental observational study trained strictly defined basic laparoscopic skills in virtual reality in 2 days course format. Before and after training cycle identical simple complex task (peg transfer) was carried out in the box trainer. Results achieved were tested for statistically significant differences with significance level defined at 95% (p<0.05). Results: 20 medical students participated in the study (10 males, 10 females; mean age 22.08±0.76 years). Time needed to perform defined simple complex task on box trainer prior virtual reality training was 372.1±129.87 seconds. Performance time after virtual reality training in short-term module was shortened by 47.9±13.02 percent to 182.4±36.64 seconds. Detected difference was proven to be statistically highly significant (p<0.001). Conclusions: Short-term basic laparoscopic skills virtual reality training module on the level of simple complex tasks is applicable in pregraduate education. Skills acquired seem to be transferrable to realistic environment.

Keywords: skills, pregraduate education, training, laparoscopy, laparoscopic surgery, virtual reality.