Surgeons trained on the Wii

[SPM]

http://blogs.wsj.com/health/2008/01/17/surgeons-hone-skills-on-nintendo-wii/?mod=fpa_blogs

According to a very small, very preliminary study, playing certain video games on the Nintendo Wii helps surgical residents to hone their fine motor skills and improve their performance on a serious surgery simulator.

Out of a group of 16 residents, eight were assigned to play the Wii (Marble Mania and a suite of games called Wii Play), with the specially-rigged controller. The other eight didn’t get to play. Then all 16 did a simulated laparoscopic procedure (something having to do with a simulated gallbladder).

The ones who had played the Wii showed 48% more improvement on the procedure than those who hadn’t, according to a standard score that measures performance on the simulation, Kahol said. They plan to present the results at the Medicine Meets Virtual Reality conference in a couple weeks.

Next, Kahol and Smith plan to develop a full-blown surgery simulator for the Wii. Among other things, it would allow residents, forced by work-hour caps to spend more time outside the hospital, to practice surgery while they’re at home.

In the meantime at Smith’s hospital there’s a Wii in the room where residents take cat naps while they’re on call. We asked if the residents get competitive about the Wii. “They’re surgery residents, what do you expect?” Smith said.

 

[Arwin]

There's more research on this already, but that was related to computer games in general and dual analog sticks in particular had a good influence on students, who performed 70% better for controlling surgical robots and similar results in the army for controlling tanks. And if you look how these are controlled, it's not really a big surprise.

By the way, those residents better take that cat-nap, if you ask me.

 

[SPM]

It's interesting how in the past video games were looked on as a sign of mis-spent youth. Now it seems that to be a brain surgeon you need to buy a Wii.

I wonder if we might see the simulator released as a surgery game with points awarded for successful operations, and building up a successful practice, where you can buy equipment, and be sued for malpractice or negligence - who knows.

 

[DeadlyNinja]

They must have been playing Trauma Center on the Wii.

 

[Arwin]

I had, a long time ago, an extremely similar game on the Atari ST. You had to diagnose a patient, ask the right questions, and depending on what the ilness was, sometimes you had to do some surgery. It was extremely limited though, but it wasn't all that bad. I learnt a lot about intestinal gas from that game.