title: Distractions and surgical proficiency: an educational perspective.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  Surgery training requires residents to focus on tasks while minimizing the effect of distractions. There is a need to develop training methodologies that can enable surgical residents to hone this ability.
  
  
  METHODS
  Fourteen surgical residents were divided into 2 groups. They were trained to perform simulated tasks in a noiseless environment and subsequently performed these tasks in a distractive one. In a follow-up experiment, an experimental group was trained in noisy and distractive conditions and was compared with a control group trained in noiseless conditions.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Residents who trained in noiseless environments possessed decreased surgical proficiency when performing the identical tasks in realistic environments (P < .05). Pretraining in a noisy environment improves surgical proficiency.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Noise and distractions can significantly impede performance of surgical residents, but this effect can be nullified by introduction of noise and distractions in the training environment.
authors.affiliation: Phoenix Integrated Surgical Residency, Phoenix, AZ, USA.
authors.forename: Craig
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Szafranski
authors.forename: Kanav
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Kahol
authors.forename: Vafa
authors.initials: V
authors.lastname: Ghaemmaghami
authors.forename: Marshall
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Smith
authors.forename: John J
authors.initials: JJ
authors.lastname: Ferrara
mesh_terms: D002983:Clinical Competence; D013502:General Surgery / Q000193:education*; D006801:Humans; D007396:Internship and Residency; D009622:Noise