Tuesday, 1 October 2013

Web-based training modules make surgical-equipment training accessible




While training to become a surgeon, a physician acquires many skills. Nevertheless, when it comes to the procedures involved in learning to handle equipment in laparoscopic surgery (keyhole surgery in the abdominal cavity), there is room for imvrovement. This is the conclusion drawn by physician and researcher Diederick van Hove, who will be defending his doctoral thesis on this subject at TU Delft on Friday 20 September. He developed two web-based training modules for handling equipment during laparoscopic surgery that significantly improve theoretical and practical skills.


There has always been great interest in improving for ( in the ). After all, this form of surgery requires a different skill set than conventional open and is highly dependent on technology. Much has been done to structure and standardise the training of this surgical technique, but as yet no system existed in which the competence of handling equipment is trained and assessed.


Van Hove found that although training with surgical equipment does exist in almost every , the frequency of this varies significantly. Moreover, in a third of the hospitals questioned, training is not compulsory, and only seven hospitals provided training that included an assessment. In almost all the hospitals, training with equipment was directed towards the surgical assistants. And in only four hospitals was the training also specifically directed towards registrars and consultant physicians. In addition, the times scheduled for the training sessions, which are often carried out by the manufacturer, can form an organisational hurdle, owing to the fact that these can be difficult to fit into the daily working schedule.


This video is not supported by your browser at this time.


As a possible answer to this problem, Van Hove has developed two interactive web-based training modules for laparoscopic surgical equipment. Both modules consist of three parts: a theoretical part covering the underlying physical principles, a tutorial which explains precisely how the equipment should be handled and finally an assessment in which both theoretical and practical skills are tested. Both modules make use of a simulation of the actual equipment, allowing connections to be made, controls to be used and alarms to sound. The simulations are used for practice and for assessing practical skills.


"We've demonstrated that training with both modules significantly improves theoretical and practical skills," says Van Hove. "In a test with the actual equipment, the participants who had trained with the modules made fewer mistakes in handling the than participants who hadn't trained. All participants indicated that the modules would be a useful addition to surgical training." Laurents Stassen, gastrointestinal surgeon and surgical tutor in Maastricht: "These modules are a very promising training method for healthcare staff. The main advantages are that they can be used independently in your own time and that no supervision is necessary."



Medical Xpress on facebook

Related Stories


Wii-playing surgeons may improve performance on laparoscopic procedures


Feb 27, 2013



Laparoscopic surgeons may improve certain aspects of surgical performance by regularly playing on a Nintendo Wii, according to research published February 27 in the open access journal PLOS ONE by Gregorio Patrizi and co ...



New training instrument allows surgeon to feel grasp force in keyhole surgery


Jan 24, 2011



The number of complications following keyhole surgery can be reduced by giving the surgeons a better feeling of how hard they are grasping the tissue with their operating instruments. This is made possible by designing the ...



Surgical residents perform better in OR if they receive structured training in simulated environment


Jul 05, 2012



New research has shown that surgical residents who received structured training in a simulated environment perform significantly better when they start operating on patients.



Virtual reality: Keyhole surgeons training could help meet European working time directives


Jan 21, 2009



Trainee surgeons who add virtual reality (VR) training to standard 'apprenticeship' training in key-hole surgery learn more quickly, work with greater accuracy and have less errors than those with no VR training, and perform ...



Researchers develop better training for keyhole surgery


Mar 31, 2009



Researcher Sanne Botden has improved the training methods for surgeons who perform keyhole operations. At present, a relatively large number of errors are made during surgery of this kind. She defends her ...



Recommended for you


Total hospital cost of robotic or conventional open-chest mitral valve repair surgery is similar


7 hours ago



The total hospital cost of mitral valve repair surgery—from the time a patient is admitted to the hospital until release —is similar, whether performed through small port incisions using robotic equipment or via the conventional ...





Modifiable factors ID'd for reducing surgical site infections


17 hours ago



(HealthDay)—Specific modifiable preoperative, intraoperative, and postoperative factors can be optimized to reduce the risk of surgical site infections (SSIs) for patients undergoing elective orthopedic ...





Sutures not superior to staples for closure in GI surgery


Sep 29, 2013



(HealthDay)—Compared with standard procedure using staples, skin closure with subcuticular sutures does not reduce the incidence of wound complications after open gastrointestinal (GI) surgery, according ...



Chinese doctor builds new nose on man's forehead


Sep 28, 2013



A surgeon in China says he has constructed an extra nose out of a man's rib cartilage and implanted it under the skin of his forehead to prepare for a transplant in probably the first operation of its kind.



Safer anesthesia and sounder sleep: Going beyond 'not killing as many people'


Sep 27, 2013



Life before anesthesia was horrific. Operations were incredibly painful. Many patients facing surgery suffered anxiety worse than the condition their surgery was supposed to fix.



Myanmar's 'tallest man' undergoes successful surgery


Sep 27, 2013



Myanmar's tallest man—"Big Zaw"—has returned from Singapore where doctors said he underwent successful brain surgery to remove a tumour responsible for his excessive growth.



User comments








While training to become a surgeon, a physician acquires many skills. Nevertheless, when it comes to the procedures involved in learning to handle equipment in laparoscopic surgery (keyhole surgery in the abdominal cavity), there is room for imvrovement. This is the conclusion drawn by physician and researcher Diederick van Hove, who will be defending his doctoral thesis on this subject at TU Delft on Friday 20 September. He developed two web-based training modules for handling equipment during laparoscopic surgery that significantly improve theoretical and practical skills.


There has always been great interest in improving for ( in the ). After all, this form of surgery requires a different skill set than conventional open and is highly dependent on technology. Much has been done to structure and standardise the training of this surgical technique, but as yet no system existed in which the competence of handling equipment is trained and assessed.


Van Hove found that although training with surgical equipment does exist in almost every , the frequency of this varies significantly. Moreover, in a third of the hospitals questioned, training is not compulsory, and only seven hospitals provided training that included an assessment. In almost all the hospitals, training with equipment was directed towards the surgical assistants. And in only four hospitals was the training also specifically directed towards registrars and consultant physicians. In addition, the times scheduled for the training sessions, which are often carried out by the manufacturer, can form an organisational hurdle, owing to the fact that these can be difficult to fit into the daily working schedule.


This video is not supported by your browser at this time.


As a possible answer to this problem, Van Hove has developed two interactive web-based training modules for laparoscopic surgical equipment. Both modules consist of three parts: a theoretical part covering the underlying physical principles, a tutorial which explains precisely how the equipment should be handled and finally an assessment in which both theoretical and practical skills are tested. Both modules make use of a simulation of the actual equipment, allowing connections to be made, controls to be used and alarms to sound. The simulations are used for practice and for assessing practical skills.


"We've demonstrated that training with both modules significantly improves theoretical and practical skills," says Van Hove. "In a test with the actual equipment, the participants who had trained with the modules made fewer mistakes in handling the than participants who hadn't trained. All participants indicated that the modules would be a useful addition to surgical training." Laurents Stassen, gastrointestinal surgeon and surgical tutor in Maastricht: "These modules are a very promising training method for healthcare staff. The main advantages are that they can be used independently in your own time and that no supervision is necessary."



Medical Xpress on facebook

Related Stories


Wii-playing surgeons may improve performance on laparoscopic procedures


Feb 27, 2013



Laparoscopic surgeons may improve certain aspects of surgical performance by regularly playing on a Nintendo Wii, according to research published February 27 in the open access journal PLOS ONE by Gregorio Patrizi and co ...



New training instrument allows surgeon to feel grasp force in keyhole surgery


Jan 24, 2011



The number of complications following keyhole surgery can be reduced by giving the surgeons a better feeling of how hard they are grasping the tissue with their operating instruments. This is made possible by designing the ...



Surgical residents perform better in OR if they receive structured training in simulated environment


Jul 05, 2012



New research has shown that surgical residents who received structured training in a simulated environment perform significantly better when they start operating on patients.



Virtual reality: Keyhole surgeons training could help meet European working time directives


Jan 21, 2009



Trainee surgeons who add virtual reality (VR) training to standard 'apprenticeship' training in key-hole surgery learn more quickly, work with greater accuracy and have less errors than those with no VR training, and perform ...



Researchers develop better training for keyhole surgery


Mar 31, 2009



Researcher Sanne Botden has improved the training methods for surgeons who perform keyhole operations. At present, a relatively large number of errors are made during surgery of this kind. She defends her ...



Recommended for you


Total hospital cost of robotic or conventional open-chest mitral valve repair surgery is similar


7 hours ago



The total hospital cost of mitral valve repair surgery—from the time a patient is admitted to the hospital until release —is similar, whether performed through small port incisions using robotic equipment or via the conventional ...





Modifiable factors ID'd for reducing surgical site infections


17 hours ago



(HealthDay)—Specific modifiable preoperative, intraoperative, and postoperative factors can be optimized to reduce the risk of surgical site infections (SSIs) for patients undergoing elective orthopedic ...





Sutures not superior to staples for closure in GI surgery


Sep 29, 2013



(HealthDay)—Compared with standard procedure using staples, skin closure with subcuticular sutures does not reduce the incidence of wound complications after open gastrointestinal (GI) surgery, according ...



Chinese doctor builds new nose on man's forehead


Sep 28, 2013



A surgeon in China says he has constructed an extra nose out of a man's rib cartilage and implanted it under the skin of his forehead to prepare for a transplant in probably the first operation of its kind.



Safer anesthesia and sounder sleep: Going beyond 'not killing as many people'


Sep 27, 2013



Life before anesthesia was horrific. Operations were incredibly painful. Many patients facing surgery suffered anxiety worse than the condition their surgery was supposed to fix.



Myanmar's 'tallest man' undergoes successful surgery


Sep 27, 2013



Myanmar's tallest man—"Big Zaw"—has returned from Singapore where doctors said he underwent successful brain surgery to remove a tumour responsible for his excessive growth.



User comments








Categories:

0 comments:

Post a Comment