Laparoscopy Instructional Videos: The Effect of Preoperative Compared With Intraoperative Use on Learning Curves

Measuring Small Bowel Length in Bariatric Surgery: An Ex Vivo Laparoscopic Training Experiment

INTRODUCTION

Determining limb length in gastric bypass procedures is a crucial step to ensure significant weight loss without risking malnutrition. This study investigated the effect of ex vivo training on the skills needed to determine limb lengths.

MATERIALS AND METHODS

This was a single-center ex vivo training experiment in a teaching hospital in the Netherlands. We designed a training exercise with marked ropes in a laparoscopic trainer box. All ten surgical residents participated and practiced the skill of estimating limb length. Before and after the two-week period their results on a 150-centimeter limb length task were evaluated.

RESULTS

Before training, 10 surgical residents estimated 150 centimeters of small bowel with an absolute deviation of 21% [range 9-30]. After the training experiment, the residents measured with 8% [2-20] deviation (P = .17). The 8 residents who trained sufficiently improved statistically significantly to an absolute deviation of 5% [2-17] (P = .012). Over 70% of the participants felt their skills had improved.

CONCLUSIONS

With sufficient training, surgical residents' skills in measuring small bowel length improved when tested in an ex vivo model. Residents became more confident in their laparoscopic measurement skills. This ex vivo training model is a alternative and addition to on-site training.

The application of augmented reality for improving clinical skills: a scoping review

Augmented reality technology had developed rapidly in recent years and had been applied in many fields, including medical education. Augmented reality had potential to improve students' knowledge and skills in medical education. This scoping review primarily aims to further elaborate the current studies on the implementation of augmented reality in advancing clinical skills. This study was conducted by utilizing electronic databases such as PubMed, Embase, and Web of Science in June 2022 for articles focusing on the use of augmented reality for improving clinical skills. The Rayyan website was used to screen the articles that met the inclusion criteria, which was the application of augmented reality as a learning method in medical education. Total of 37 articles met the inclusion criteria. These publications suggested that using augmented reality could improve clinical skills. The most researched topics explored were laparoscopic surgery skills and ophthalmology were the most studied topic. The research methods applied in the articles fall into two main categories: randomized control trial (RCT) (29.3%) and non-RCT (70.3%). Augmented reality has the potential to be integrated in medical education, particularly to boost clinical studies. Due to limited databases, however, any further studies on the implementation of augmented reality as a method to enhance skills in medical education need to be conducted.