Association of gender and specialty interest with video-gaming, three-dimensional spatial analysis, and entry-level laparoscopic skills in third-year veterinary students

Validation of Training and Acquisition of Surgical Skills in Veterinary Laparoscopic Surgery: A Review

At present, veterinary laparoscopic surgery training is lacking in experiences that provide a controlled and safe environment where surgeons can practice specific techniques while receiving experts' feedback. Surgical skills acquired using simulators must be certified and transferable to the operating room. Most models for practicing laparoscopic skills in veterinary minimally invasive surgery are general task trainers and consist of boxes (simulators) designed for training human surgery. These simulators exhibit several limitations, including anatomic species and procedural differences, as well as general psychomotor training rather than in vivo skill recreation. In this paper, we review the existing methods of training, evaluation, and validation of technical skills in veterinary laparoscopic surgery. Content includes global and specific scales, and the conditions a structured curriculum should meet for improving the performance of novice surgeons during and after training. A focus on trainee-specific assessment and tailored-technical instruction should influence training programs. We provide a comprehensive analysis of current theories and concepts related to the evaluation and validation of simulators for training laparoscopic surgery in small animal surgery. We also highlight the need to develop new training models and complementary evaluation scales for the validation of training and acquisition of basic and advanced skills in veterinary laparoscopic surgery.

Effect of Short- Versus Long-Term Video Game Playing on Basic Laparoscopic Skills Acquisition of Veterinary Medicine Students

The objective of this study was to investigate the effect of playing video games on the performance of basic laparoscopic skills. The study was an experimental pre-test-post-test comparison group design. Fifty-two students (31 from the Western University of Health Sciences College of Veterinary Medicine and 21 from the Colorado State University College of Veterinary Medicine) completing their first or second year of the veterinary curriculum were randomized into two intervention groups. The intervention consisted of playing the video game Marble Mania on a Nintendo Wii. group L (long) played 18 hours over 6 weeks and group S (short) played 3 hours during the last week of the 6-week intervention period. Before and after the intervention, basic laparoscopic skills for both groups were assessed using a modified McGill Inanimate System for Training and Evaluation of Laparoscopic Skills (MISTELS) instrument. Participants performed two laparoscopic tasks. Results showed that the performance of students improved in both group S and L (p < .05) on both laparoscopic tasks. Both groups showed statistically significant improvement in their post-intervention scores (group L, N = 25, z = -3.711, p < .001, r = 0.742; group S, N = 27, z = -3.016, p < .003, r = 0.580). There was no significant difference in the degree of improvement between group S and group L. The results suggest that playing Marble Mania on a Wii for any time duration could be an effective method for veterinary medicine students to improve basic laparoscopic skills, and indicate the needs for additional studies.