Simulation Technology Helps Surgical Residents Train

An online interactive three-dimensional (3D) simulation platform helps assess and train surgical residents in a variety of patient care scenarios.

Researchers at the UK National Institute for Health Research (NIHR; London, United Kingdom) and Imperial College, St. Mary’s Hospital (London, United Kingdom) used the online virtual world Second Life created by Linden Lab (San Francisco, CA, USA) to develop three virtual reality environments: a standard hospital ward, an intensive care unit (ICU), and an emergency room. They also created modules for three common surgical scenarios: gastrointestinal bleeding, acute inflammation of the pancreas, and bowel obstruction.

They then conducted a study involved 63 surgeons, including interns, junior and senior residents, and attending surgeons, whose performance was used as a benchmark. Each surgeon assessed and managed a series of virtual patients via the 3D interactive surgical world, involving anamnesis, a physical examination imaging, interpreting lab results, diagnosing the disease, and implementing an appropriate management plan. The researchers then rated each surgeon’s performance on a scale of 8 to 56, the maximum score.

The results showed significant gaps in performance between interns and attending surgeons, as well as between junior and senior residents and attending surgeons. For example, analysis of the level-one gastrointestinal bleeding module showed that interns scored 48, junior residents scored 50, senior residents scored 54, and attending surgeons scored 56. For other cases, study results showed similar outcomes. The study was published in the August 2013 issue of the Journal of the American College of Surgeons.

“What we want to do using this simulation platform is to bring all the junior residents and senior residents up to the level of the attending surgeon, so that the time is shortened in terms of their learning curve in learning how to look after surgical patients,” said study coauthor Rajesh Aggarwal, MD, PhD, MA. “This platform can also be used as a refresher so it can be used for the maintenance of their skills, not just the acquisition of their skills, and this goal can be achieved in a more efficient manner as well.”

Related Links:
UK National Institute for Health Research
Imperial College, St. Mary’s Hospital
Linden Lab