Premium
Technical skills improve after practice on virtual‐reality temporal bone simulator
Author(s) -
Francis Howard W.,
Malik Mohammad U.,
Diaz Voss Varela David A.,
Barffour Maxwell A.,
Chien Wade W.,
Carey John P.,
Niparko John K.,
Bhatti Nasir I.
Publication year - 2012
Publication title -
the laryngoscope
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.181
H-Index - 148
eISSN - 1531-4995
pISSN - 0023-852X
DOI - 10.1002/lary.22378
Subject(s) - task (project management) , mastoidectomy , sigmoid sinus , virtual reality , dissection (medical) , sigmoid function , computer science , temporal bone , simulation , medicine , physical medicine and rehabilitation , surgery , human–computer interaction , artificial intelligence , cholesteatoma , engineering , systems engineering , thrombosis , artificial neural network
Objectives/Hypothesis: To assess whether practice on a virtual‐reality (VR) temporal bone simulator improves acquisition of technical skills in mastoid surgery. Study Design: Prospective blinded study. Methods: Using a previously validated objective structured assessment of technical skills (OSATS) tool, performance was assessed in 12 residents for two tasks of cortical mastoidectomy: 1) identifying and defining the tegmen and 2) defining the sigmoid sinus and sinodural angle. These surgical tasks were chosen as key steps in mastoid dissection because they were of intermediate complexity. Videos of virtual dissections were captured at baseline and again after practicing each task four to six times. Results: OSATS scores for the tegmen task increased from 2.125 ± 1.25 to 3.1 ± 0.85 ( P = .026), whereas for the sigmoid task scores increased from 2 ± 0.45 to 2.75 ± 1.125 ( P = .0098). The time to complete the tasks decreased from 8.37 ± 4.78 minutes to 5.39 ± 3.06 minutes ( P = .018) for the tegmen task and from 8.99 ± 6.7 minutes to 8.68 ± 5.98 minutes ( P = .594) for the sigmoid task. There was a decline in number of injuries from 0.5 ± 1.5 to 0 ± 0.5 ( P = .594) for the tegmen task and from 2.5 ± 4 to 0.5 ± 1 ( P = .029) for the sigmoid task. Conclusions: Technical skills in mastoidectomy surgery can be acquired during even brief practice on the VR temporal bone simulator. It is anticipated that longer periods of practice presented within the fundamentals of comprehensive curriculum will facilitate procedural learning. Further studies are required to elucidate evidence of transference of these skills to the operating room and to procedures of greater complexity.