[Evaluation of the GeSRU-Steps educational video concept (German Society of Residents in Urology e. V.)]

BACKGROUND

Surgical educational videos represent a contemporary, multimedia supplement to surgical education and training. The German Society of Residents in Urology e. V. (GeSRU) developed an educational video platform (steps.GeSRU.de) with free, quality-assured educational videos for urologists, especially for residents.

OBJECTIVES

The purpose of this study was to evaluate the GeSRU Steps teaching videos.

MATERIALS AND METHODS

Prospectively, 29 GeSRU Steps training videos were made available (03/2019-05/2023) via amboss.com, and an online questionnaire was inserted following the videos. This comprised 12 items on medical, technical, and didactic quality, usefulness for own knowledge acquisition, and sociodemographic data of respondents. Aspects of video quality were assessed with the Acceptability E‑scale and the Global Quality Score.

RESULTS

During the survey period, the GeSRU Steps videos implemented on the amboss.com website were viewed 49,698 times. A total of 474 questionnaires were answered (rate 0.25%). The collective of respondents consisted of 419 (88%) students, 47 (10%) physicians in training, and 5 (1%) specialists; 351 (74%) were female, 107 (23%) were male, and 4 (1%) were diverse. Each educational video was rated a median of 10 times (range 5-65). The six questions of the Acceptability E‑scale and the Global Quality Score were rated good and very good (81.6-95.8%), respectively.

CONCLUSIONS

GeSRU teaching videos achieved a very good rating with high user satisfaction. By specific promotion of these teaching videos, which are quality-assured through supervision, the portfolio of surgical videos available at a low threshold can be expanded and can serve as a contemporary education tool.

[Looking forward to the future direction of colorectal surgery in the perspective of clinical research and data collection]

Colorectal surgery has been developed rapidly in China because of the advance of minimally invasive surgical techniques, perioperative comprehensive treatment strategies and clinical research in recent years. Comparing the current diagnosis and treatment of colorectal cancer between China and western industrialized countries, it can be found that the specialized construction and standardized diagnosis and treatment of colorectal surgery in western industrialized countries are very mature, and the multidisciplinary diagnosis and treatment model of colorectal cancer has been standardized. Although there is almost no difference between high-level colorectal cancer centers in the eastern coastal areas of China and western countries, due to the vast size and uneven regional development of China, standardized surgery and standardized treatment concepts of colorectal surgery still need to be popularized. Combined with the current diagnosis and treatment of colorectal cancer in China, more high-quality clinical research should be carried out to seek new development and breakthroughs in the field of colorectal surgery. Combined with the experience of international and domestic clinical research that has been participated in or carried out, the author believes that quality control of clinical research should be carried out from the following two points: 1. structured training and quality control of research; 2. establishment and management of databases. In a word, we should not only focus on colon surgery itself, but also complete the transformation to research-oriented doctors and research-oriented disciplines, cultivate the concept of data collection and clinical research, enhance the scientific awareness of clinical research, and integrate high-quality data collection and clinical research into daily clinical practice. Only in this way can we fundamentally improve the comprehensive strength of China's colorectal surgery, effectively carry out surgical-related clinical research based on the current situation colorectal diseases in China, and obtain high-level evidence-based medical evidence based on the research results of the population of patients in China, and form a guide for the diagnosis and treatment of colorectal surgery in China, which will also guide the clinical practice of patients with colorectal diseases in China. This will certainly be a new direction for the development of Chinese colorectal surgery.

User training for machine learning controlled upper limb prostheses: a serious game approach

BACKGROUND

Upper limb prosthetics with multiple degrees of freedom (DoFs) are still mostly operated through the clinical standard Direct Control scheme. Machine learning control, on the other hand, allows controlling multiple DoFs although it requires separable and consistent electromyogram (EMG) patterns. Whereas user training can improve EMG pattern quality, conventional training methods might limit user potential. Training with serious games might lead to higher quality EMG patterns and better functional outcomes. In this explorative study we compare outcomes of serious game training with conventional training, and machine learning control with the users' own one DoF prosthesis.

METHODS

Participants with upper limb absence participated in 7 training sessions where they learned to control a 3 DoF prosthesis with two grips which was fitted. Participants received either game training or conventional training. Conventional training was based on coaching, as described in the literature. Game-based training was conducted using two games that trained EMG pattern separability and functional use. Both groups also trained functional use with the prosthesis donned. The prosthesis system was controlled using a neural network regressor. Outcome measures were EMG metrics, number of DoFs used, the spherical subset of the Southampton Hand Assessment Procedure and the Clothespin Relocation Test.

RESULTS

Eight participants were recruited and four completed the study. Training did not lead to consistent improvements in EMG pattern quality or functional use, but some participants improved in some metrics. No differences were observed between the groups. Participants achieved consistently better results using their own prosthesis than the machine-learning controlled prosthesis used in this study.

CONCLUSION

Our explorative study showed in a small group of participants that serious game training seems to achieve similar results as conventional training. No consistent improvements were found in either group in terms of EMG metrics or functional use, which might be due to insufficient training. This study highlights the need for more research in user training for machine learning controlled prosthetics. In addition, this study contributes with more data comparing machine learning controlled prosthetics with Direct Controlled prosthetics.