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Video gaming improves robotic surgery simulator success: a multi-clinic study on robotic skills

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Abstract

We aimed to investigate the effects of video game habits, duration of experience, and training in different surgical clinics on the success of robotic surgery simulators. In this prospective, observational, comparative, and multi-clinical study, all participants played Temple Run and Piano Tiles 2™ mobile games for 1 month, after answering a questionnaire including their sociodemographic characteristics, surgical experience, and past and current video game experience. At the end of the period, participants experienced four different robotic surgery simulator tasks (Camera Targeting 1, Energy Switching 1, Ring and Rail 2, Vertical Defect Suturing) in da Vinci® Skills Simulator™. Additionally, sociodemographic data were statistically analyzed with mobile game scores and 13 different performance scores obtained from the simulator. All robotic surgery simulator skill applications were carried out at Ege University Hospital in Izmir. All surgical residents in the general surgery, urology, and pediatric surgery clinics were included in the study. Sixty of the sixty-four participants in total completed all the processes. Four participants were excluded from the study. When clinical performances were compared, it was seen that the general surgery clinic performed better than other clinics in two parameters (overall score, time to complete) of the 'Camera Targeting' task (p = 0.01 and p = 0.006). Participants with mobile phone games experience were successful in the 'Energy Switching' task with less misapplied energy time (p = 0.039). Participants with high scores in Piano Tiles 2™ were more successful in the 'Energy Switching' task and completed the 'Ring Rail' task with fewer movements (p < 0.05). Participants with more surgical and laparoscopic surgery experience scored higher in the ‘Camera Targeting’ and 'Energy Switching' tasks and completed the assignments with less movement. Again, these participants completed the 'Vertical Defect Suturing' task faster and the ‘Ring Rail’ task with less movement. In addition, participants with more laparoscopy experience scored higher in the 'Ring Rail' task (p < 0.05). In this study, we showed the effect of recent gaming experience on robotic surgery abilities along with previous video game experience. For surgeons and surgeon candidates in robotic surgery training, the importance of video game-based learning techniques will increase when combined with rapidly developing simulation technologies.

ClinicalTrials.gov Identifier: NCT05510960.

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Acknowledgements

We want to thank Cordamed Biomedical Engineering Company, Miss Duygu Esnafoğlu, Dr. Chantal B. Stutz, and our mentors for their support and inspiration.

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The authors declare that no funds, grants, or other support were received during the preparation of this manuscript.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of General Surgery, Division of Endocrine Surgery, Ege University Hospital, Bornova, 35100, İzmir, Turkey

    Özgür Kılınçarslan, Yiğit Türk, Murat Özdemir & Özer Makay

  2. Ege University School of Medicine, İzmir, Turkey

    Aslı Vargör

  3. Department of Public Health, Ege University School of Medicine, İzmir, Turkey

    Hür Hassoy

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  1. Özgür Kılınçarslan
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  2. Yiğit Türk
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  4. Murat Özdemir
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Contributions

All authors contributed to the study conception and design. Material preparation, data collection, and analysis were performed by ÖK, YT, AV, MÖ, HH, and ÖM. The first draft of the manuscript was written by ÖK and all authors commented on previous versions of the manuscript. All authors read and approved the final manuscript.

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Correspondence to Özer Makay.

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Kılınçarslan, Ö., Türk, Y., Vargör, A. et al. Video gaming improves robotic surgery simulator success: a multi-clinic study on robotic skills. J Robotic Surg 17, 1435–1442 (2023). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11701-023-01540-y

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11701-023-01540-y

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