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Video: Take three: assessing robotic surgery training methods

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Comparative assessment of three standardized robotic surgery training methods

Andrew J. Hung, Isuru S. Jayaratna, Kara Teruya, Mihir M. Desai, Inderbir S. Gill and Alvin C. Goh*

USC Institute of Urology, Hillard and Roclyn Herzog Center for Robotic Surgery, Keck School of Medicine, University of Southern California, Los Angeles, CA, and *Department of Urology, Methodist Institute for Technology, Innovation and Education, The Methodist Hospital, Houston, TX, USA

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OBJECTIVES

• To evaluate three standardized robotic surgery training methods, inanimate, virtual reality and in vivo, for their construct validity.

• To explore the concept of cross-method validity, where the relative performance of each method is compared.

MATERIALS AND METHODS

• Robotic surgical skills were prospectively assessed in 49 participating surgeons who were classified as follows: ‘novice/trainee’: urology residents, previous experience <30 cases (n = 38) and ‘experts’: faculty surgeons, previous experience ≥30 cases (n = 11).

• Three standardized, validated training methods were used: (i) structured inanimate tasks; (ii) virtual reality exercises on the da Vinci Skills Simulator (Intuitive Surgical, Sunnyvale, CA, USA); and (iii) a standardized robotic surgical task in a live porcine model with performance graded by the Global Evaluative Assessment of Robotic Skills (GEARS) tool.

• A Kruskal–Wallis test was used to evaluate performance differences between novices and experts (construct validity).

• Spearman’s correlation coefficient (ρ) was used to measure the association of performance across inanimate, simulation and in vivo methods (cross-method validity).

RESULTS

• Novice and expert surgeons had previously performed a median (range) of 0 (0–20) and 300 (30–2000) robotic cases, respectively (P < 0.001).

• Construct validity: experts consistently outperformed residents with all three methods (P < 0.001).

• Cross-method validity: overall performance of inanimate tasks significantly correlated with virtual reality robotic performance (ρ = −0.7, P < 0.001) and in vivo robotic performance based on GEARS (ρ = −0.8, P < 0.0001).

• Virtual reality performance and in vivo tissue performance were also found to be strongly correlated (ρ = 0.6, P < 0.001).

CONCLUSIONS

• We propose the novel concept of cross-method validity, which may provide a method of evaluating the relative value of various forms of skills education and assessment.

• We externally confirmed the construct validity of each featured training tool.

Article of the week: Reality check: simulators are effective training tools for robotic surgery

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Every week the Editor-in-Chief selects the Article of the Week from the current issue of BJUI. The abstract is reproduced below and you can click on the button to read the full article, which is freely available to all readers for at least 30 days from the time of this post.

In addition to the article itself, there is an accompanying editorial written by a prominent member of the urological community. This blog is intended to provoke comment and discussion and we invite you to use the comment tools at the bottom of each post to join the conversation.

If you only have time to read one article this week, it should be this one.

Current status of validation for robotic surgery simulators – a systematic review

Hamid Abboudi, Mohammed S. Khan, Omar Aboumarzouk*, Khurshid A. Guru†, Ben Challacombe, Prokar Dasgupta and Kamran Ahmed

MRC Centre for Transplantation, King’s College London, King’s Health Partners, Department of Urology, Guy’s Hospital, London, *Department of Urology, Aberdeen Royal Infirmary, Aberdeen, UK, and †Department of Urology, Roswell Park Center for Robotic Surgery, Roswell Park Cancer Institute, Buffalo, New York, USA

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To analyse studies validating the effectiveness of robotic surgery simulators. The MEDLINE®, EMBASE® and PsycINFO® databases were systematically searched until September 2011. References from retrieved articles were reviewed to broaden the search. The simulator name, training tasks, participant level, training duration and evaluation scoring were extracted from each study. We also extracted data on feasibility, validity, cost-effectiveness, reliability and educational impact. We identified 19 studies investigating simulation options in robotic surgery. There are five different robotic surgery simulation platforms available on the market. In all, 11 studies sought opinion and compared performance between two different groups; ‘expert’ and ‘novice’. Experts ranged in experience from 21–2200 robotic cases. The novice groups consisted of participants with no prior experience on a robotic platform and were often medical students or junior doctors. The Mimic dV-Trainer®, ProMIS®, SimSurgery Educational Platform® (SEP) and Intuitive systems have shown face, content and construct validity. The Robotic Surgical SimulatorTM system has only been face and content validated. All of the simulators except SEP have shown educational impact. Feasibility and cost-effectiveness of simulation systems was not evaluated in any trial.Virtual reality simulators were shown to be effective training tools for junior trainees. Simulation training holds the greatest potential to be used as an adjunct to traditional training methods to equip the next generation of robotic surgeons with the skills required to operate safely. However, current simulation models have only been validated in small studies. There is no evidence to suggest one type of simulator provides more effective training than any other. More research is needed to validate simulated environments further and investigate the effectiveness of animal and cadaveric training in robotic surgery.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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Editorial: VR simulators can improve patient safety

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You wouldn’t expect the pilot of the aeroplane in which you fly to the EAU or AUA meeting to be a novice who was training on the aeroplane that you were being transported in! Similarly, patients undergoing robot-assisted surgery do not expect to be the “guinea pigs” upon which trainee surgeons move up the learning curve of surgical experience. Sometimes, however, they are.

Surgical simulators offer the means for surgeons to gain experience before moving to operating on actual patients. However, the publication from Guy’s and St Thomas’s illustrates how little research has been done yet to confirm that outcomes are improved by such a move.

Patient safety is a “buzz word” at present, especially after the report of Robert Francis QC on the Mid-Staffordshire NHS Trust disaster. It seems probable that virtual reality (VR) simulators can improve safety, not only by improving technical skills, but also by enhancing non-technical “human factor” responses.

Much work needs to be done to provide the VR training facilities and ensure access to them for all urology trainees. Once they are in place studies will be needed to confirm their value. In a world where doctors and Trusts are facing a tidal wave of litigation there seems little doubt that this is the way ahead.

Roger Kirby
The Prostate Centre, London W1G 8GT

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