Abstract
Background: While it is often claimed that virtual reality (VR) training system can offer self-directed and mentor-free skill learning using the system’s performance metrics (PM), no studies have yet provided evidence-based confirmation. This experimental study investigated what extent to which trainees achieved their self-learning with a current VR simulator and whether additional mentoring improved skill learning, skill transfer and cognitive workloads in robotic surgery simulation training. Methods: Thirty-two surgical trainees were randomly assigned to either the Control-Group (CG) or Experiment-Group (EG). While the CG participants reviewed the PM at their discretion, the EG participants had explanations about PM and instructions on how to improve scores. Each subject completed a 5-week training using four simulation tasks. Pre- and post-training data were collected using both a simulator and robot. Peri-training data were collected after each session. Skill learning, time spent on PM (TPM), and cognitive workloads were compared between groups. Results: After the simulation training, CG showed substantially lower simulation task scores (82.9 ± 6.0) compared with EG (93.2 ± 4.8). Both groups demonstrated improved physical model tasks performance with the actual robot, but the EG had a greater improvement in two tasks. The EG exhibited lower global mental workload/distress, higher engagement, and a better understanding regarding using PM to improve performance. The EG’s TPM was initially long but substantially shortened as the group became familiar with PM. Conclusion: Our study demonstrated that the current VR simulator offered limited self-skill learning and additional mentoring still played an important role in improving the robotic surgery simulation training.
Original language | English (US) |
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Pages (from-to) | 62-72 |
Number of pages | 11 |
Journal | Surgical endoscopy |
Volume | 32 |
Issue number | 1 |
DOIs | |
State | Published - Jan 1 2018 |
Keywords
- Mentoring
- Performance metrics
- Robotic surgery
- Simulation
- Training
- Virtual reality
ASJC Scopus subject areas
- Surgery