Surgeons who like video games are good at their job

Reported by Susan Aldridge, PhD, medical journalist

Video games can help surgeons perform better, according to study.
The Rosser Top Gun Laparoscopic Skills and Suturing Program is used to train surgeons. It measures their time and error on a number of simulated surgery skills. Video games can also potentially help surgeons develop some of their skills. Researchers at Beth Israel Medical Center, New York, confirm this in a new study.

They recruited 33 surgeons and had them follow the Program while also playing three video games for 25 minutes, while the researchers assessed their gaming skills. Fifteen of the surgeons said they never played video games, nine played between zero and three hours a week and nine had played more than this (at the height of their game playing). This last group made 37 per cent fewer errors in the Program, were 27 per cent faster and scored 42 per cent better overall than surgeons who never played video games. Current video game players made 32 per cent fewer errors, were 24 per cent faster and scored 26 per cent better overall than non player colleagues. Those in the top one third on video game skill, as measured in this study, made 47 per cent fewer errors, were 39 per cent faster, and 41 per cent better overall in the Program. The researchers conclude that video games may be a valuable training aid to surgeons.

Source
Archives of Surgery February 2007

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