[Eug]

Washington Post article

Surgeons who have played video games for more than three hours a week at some point in their lives outperform those who have never played the games when it comes to skills involved in "keyhole surgery," an unusual new study found.

"Surgeons who had played video games in the past for more than three hours per week made 37 percent fewer errors, were 27 percent faster, and scored 42 percent better overall than surgeons who never played video games," the researchers wrote. "Current video game players made 32 percent fewer errors, were 24 percent faster, and scored 26 percent better overall than their nonplayer colleagues."

It was only a small study (n=33), but nonetheless I find that totally plausible for laparoscopic surgery.

[marden]

Originally Posted by Eug 

Washington Post article

Surgeons who have played video games for more than three hours a week at some point in their lives outperform those who have never played the games when it comes to skills involved in "keyhole surgery," an unusual new study found.

"Surgeons who had played video games in the past for more than three hours per week made 37 percent fewer errors, were 27 percent faster, and scored 42 percent better overall than surgeons who never played video games," the researchers wrote. "Current video game players made 32 percent fewer errors, were 24 percent faster, and scored 26 percent better overall than their nonplayer colleagues."

It was only a small study (n=33), but nonetheless I find that totally plausible for laparoscopic surgery.

"And I excised the tumor FTW!"

[slugslugslug]

Did you read the paper?

[- - e r i k - -]

[Eug]

Originally Posted by slugslugslug 

Did you read the paper?

No, but here's the abstract (Arch Surg. 2007 Feb;142(2):181-6.):

DESIGN: Cross-sectional analysis of the performance of surgical residents and attending physicians participating in the Rosser Top Gun Laparoscopic Skills and Suturing Program (Top Gun). Three different video game exercises were performed, and surveys were completed to assess past experience with video games and current level of play, and each subject's level of surgical training, number of laparoscopic cases performed, and number of years in medical practice.

RESULTS: Past video game play in excess of 3 h/wk correlated with 37% fewer errors (P<.02) and 27% faster completion (P<.03). Overall Top Gun score (time and errors) was 33% better (P<.005) for video game players and 42% better (P<.01) if they played more than 3 h/wk. Current video game players made 32% fewer errors (P=.04), performed 24% faster (P<.04), and scored 26% better overall (time and errors) (P<.005) than their nonplaying colleagues. When comparing demonstrated video gaming skills, those in the top tertile made 47% fewer errors, performed 39% faster, and scored 41% better (P<.001 for all) on the overall Top Gun score. Regression analysis also indicated that video game skill and past video game experience are significant predictors of demonstrated laparoscopic skills.

CONCLUSIONS: Video game skill correlates with laparoscopic surgical skills. Training curricula that include video games may help thin the technical interface between surgeons and screen-mediated applications, such as laparoscopic surgery. Video games may be a practical teaching tool to help train surgeons.

P.S. I asked a surgeon friend of mine who says that they already have endoscopy and laparoscopy simulators, which essentially are video games themselves.

[climber]

Who is going to be the first kid to use this argument to justify their time playing video games instead of doing homework?

[angelmb]

Originally Posted by - - e r i k - - 

haha winner!! very fun & hard game btw

[Dakar²]

Is that the surgery game on the Wii?

[Gossamer]

Originally Posted by Eug 

...and scored 42 percent better overall than surgeons who never played video games

I wonder who has the high score.

[Dakar²]

Dr. T0T4LPWNGE37

[Gossamer]

Originally Posted by Dakar² 

Dr. T0T4LPWNGE37

Well if it was an arcade-style game, I figure it would be Dr. "ASS"

[Dakar²]

Originally Posted by Gossamer 

Well if it was an arcade-style game, I figure it would be Dr. "ASS"

Don't forget Dr. *** and Dr. COK.

Edit: Wow F U K gets edited.

[Gossamer]

Originally Posted by Dakar² 

Don't forget Dr. *** and Dr. COK.

Edit: Wow F U K gets edited.

I had actually planned on using that one but pulled it at the last second.

[Dakar²]

Originally Posted by Gossamer 

I had actually planned on using that one but pulled it at the last second.

I never pull out.

[- - e r i k - -]

Originally Posted by Dakar² 

Is that the surgery game on the Wii?

DS. But a Wii version is coming out.

Trauma Center: Under the Knife (DS)
Trauma Center: Second Opinion (wii)