Assessment of construct validity of a virtual reality laparoscopy simulator.
BACKGROUND
The aim of this study was to assess whether virtual reality (VR) can discriminate between the skills of novices and intermediate-level laparoscopic surgical trainees (construct validity), and whether the simulator assessment correlates with an expert's evaluation of performance.


METHODS
Three hundred and seven (307) participants of the 19th-22nd Davos International Gastrointestinal Surgery Workshops performed the clip-and-cut task on the Xitact LS 500 VR simulator (Xitact S.A., Morges, Switzerland). According to their previous experience in laparoscopic surgery, participants were assigned to the basic course (BC) or the intermediate course (IC). Objective performance parameters recorded by the simulator were compared to the standardized assessment by the course instructors during laparoscopic pelvitrainer and conventional surgery exercises.


RESULTS
IC participants performed significantly better on the VR simulator than BC participants for the task completion time as well as the economy of movement of the right instrument, not the left instrument. Participants with maximum scores in the pelvitrainer cholecystectomy task performed the VR trial significantly faster, compared to those who scored less. In the conventional surgery task, a significant difference between those who scored the maximum and those who scored less was found not only for task completion time, but also for economy of movement of the right instrument.


CONCLUSIONS
VR simulation provides a valid assessment of psychomotor skills and some basic aspects of spatial skills in laparoscopic surgery. Furthermore, VR allows discrimination between trainees with different levels of experience in laparoscopic surgery establishing construct validity for the Xitact LS 500 clip-and-cut task. Virtual reality may become the gold standard to assess and monitor surgical skills in laparoscopic surgery.
Rosenthal
Rachel
R
Department of Anesthesiology, University Hospital, Basel, Switzerland. Rachel.Rosenthal@chuv.ch
Gantert
Walter A
WA
Hamel
Christian
C
Hahnloser
Dieter
D
Metzger
Juerg
J
Kocher
Thomas
T
Vogelbach
Peter
P
Scheidegger
Daniel
D
Oertli
Daniel
D
Clavien
Pierre-Alain
PA
D002983:Clinical Competence; D013502:General Surgery / Q000193:education*; D006801:Humans; D010535:Laparoscopy; D011597:Psychomotor Performance; D013647:Task Performance and Analysis; D014584:User-Computer Interface