Spatial Skill Training for Robot-assisted Surgery

Spatial Learning Clinical Trial

Official title:

An Efficient Single-Session Spatial Skill Trainer for Robot-assisted Surgery: A Randomized Trial

Clinical Trial Details — Status: Completed

Administrative data

• NCT number: NCT03758586
• Other study ID #: 0602-18-RMB
• Status: Completed
• Phase: N/A
• Start date: January 1, 2017
• Est. completion date: January 1, 2018

Study information

• Verified date: November 2018
• Source: Rambam Health Care Campus
• Contact: n/a
• Is FDA regulated: No
• Study type: Interventional

Clinical Trial Summary

Surgical residents from a single tertiary medical center were divided into 2 groups. All residents performed 2 tasks on a Da Vinci robotic simulator system after which they were either given a real training session in spatial skills (study group) or shown a short presentation regarding robotic surgery. After training/watching the presentation, they repeated the for mentioned tasks on the robotic simulator. Improvement in surgeon performance, especially regarding tissue damage was documented.

Description:

Importance: Robot-assisted surgery is becoming the mainstay of modern surgery. Efficient training techniques are essential for enhanced performance. Optimal performance during a surgical task is key to successful surgery and minimal adverse events.

Objective: To introduce and examine a single session of spatial skill training as an efficient means of improving surgical suturing performance in robot-assisted surgery.

Design: Forty-one surgical residents will be randomly assigned to training and control conditions. (1) participants will perform two da-Vinci skills simulator (dVSS) tasks to determine baseline performance. (2) the training group will undergo computer-based simulator training of spatial skills while the control group will engage in a neutral activity. (3) two dVSS tasks will be performed within 2 days of training completion to evaluate post-training performance. The experiment will be conducted until December 2018.

Participants: A convenience sample comprised of 41 surgical residents with non-robotic surgical suturing skills.

Recruitment information / eligibility

• Status: Completed
• Enrollment: 40
• Est. completion date: January 1, 2018
• Est. primary completion date: September 1, 2017
• Accepts healthy volunteers: Accepts Healthy Volunteers
• Gender: All
• Age group: 25 Years to 40 Years

Eligibility

Inclusion Criteria:

• Surgical Residents with no previous robotic surgery experience.

Exclusion Criteria:

• Non surgical residents.

Related Conditions & MeSH terms

• Spatial Learning

Intervention

Other:
• Computerized spatial skill training
The spatial skills training session consisted of six practice trials that were run in a sequence. The objective of each practice was to manipulate the simulated robotic arm to grab the cubes and move them to a desired location using keyboard keys. The participant was required to reach a decision based on the visual-spatial information, before initiating subsequent movements of the simulated robotic arm. Each practice trial presented an initial state of the cubes in front of the robotic arm, and a target position of the cubes.
• Watching a presentation regarding robotic surgery
Watching a 20-35 minute long power-point presentation regarding the history of robotic surgery.

Locations

Country	Name	City	State
Israel	Rambam health care campus	Haifa

Sponsors (1)

Lead Sponsor	Collaborator
Rambam Health Care Campus

Country where clinical trial is conducted

Israel, 

Outcome

Type	Measure	Description	Time frame	Safety issue
Primary	Tissue piercing	Number of times tissue was pierced during suturing	up to 2 hours from enrollment
Primary	Tissue tearing	Number of times tissue was teared during suturing	up to 2 hours from enrollment