Surgery
Conditions
Keywords
Laparoscopic surgery skills, Medical education, Minimally invasive surgery
Brief summary
The goal of this observational study is to develop and evaluate a virtual teaching method for minimally invasive surgery (MIS) skills among novice learners, using widely available technology and incorporating objective assessments of proficiency. The main questions it aims to answer are: Can MIS skills be effectively taught to novice learners through a virtual platform using widely available technology? How do virtual and face-to-face (F2F) teaching methods compare in terms of effectiveness, measured by performance in MIS tasks and cognitive workload parameters? Participants in this study will: Be randomly allocated to either F2F or virtual teaching groups. Undergo training and evaluation using validated laparoscopic assessments, namely the McGill Inanimate System for Training and Evaluation of Laparoscopic Skills (MISTELS) peg transfer task and the European Academy laparoscopic 'Suturing Training and Testing' (SUTT) assessment. Have their performance and cognitive workload parameters (SURG-TLX score, heart rate, and pupil metrics) evaluated during the tasks.
Interventions
OTHERVirtual teaching
Virtual teaching of laparoscopic skills
Sponsors
Imperial College London
Study design
Allocation
RANDOMIZED
Intervention model
SINGLE_GROUP
Primary purpose
OTHER
Masking
SINGLE (Outcomes Assessor)
Intervention model description
Participants are randomly allocated to either face-to-face or virtual teaching groups
Eligibility
Sex/Gender
ALL
Age
18 Years to 90 Years
Healthy volunteers
Yes
Inclusion criteria
* Adult (age \> 18) * Medical student, Foundation Year or Core Trainee level or equivalent
Exclusion criteria
* Specialty Registrar level * Consultant level
Design outcomes
Primary
| Measure | Time frame | Description |
|---|---|---|
| McGill Inanimate System for Training and Evaluation of Laparoscopic Skills (MISTELS) peg transfer task score | Two days | Time to completion of task (minutes) |
| European Academy laparoscopic 'Suturing Training and Testing' (SUTT) assessment score | Two days | Time to completion of task (minutes) |
Secondary
| Measure | Time frame | Description |
|---|---|---|
| SURG-TLX score | Two days | Workload score ranging from 0 to 100 |
| Heart rate | Two days | Beats per minute |
| Pupil metrics | Two days | Mean pupil size (mm) and blinks per minute |
Countries
United Kingdom
Outcome results
None listed