title: Assessment of the role of aptitude in the acquisition of advanced laparoscopic surgical skill sets: results from a virtual reality-based laparoscopic colectomy training programme.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  The surgeons of the future will need to have advanced laparoscopic skills. The current challenge in surgical education is to teach these skills and to identify factors that may have a positive influence on training curriculums. The primary aim of this study was to determine if fundamental aptitude impacts on ability to perform a laparoscopic colectomy.
  
  
  METHODS
  A practical laparoscopic colectomy course was held by the National Surgical Training Centre at the Royal College of Surgeons in Ireland. The course consisted of didactics, warm-up and the performance of a laparoscopic sigmoid colectomy on thesimulator. Objective metrics such as time and motion analysis were recorded. Each candidate had their psychomotor and visual spatial aptitude assessed. The colectomy trays were assessed by blinded experts post procedure for errors.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Ten trainee surgeons that were novices with respect to advanced laparoscopic procedures attended the course. A significant correlation was found between psychomotor and visual spatial aptitude and performance on both the warm-up session and laparoscopic colectomy (r > 0.7, p < 0.05). Performance on the warm-up session correlated with performance of the laparoscopic colectomy (r = 0.8, p = 0.04). There was also a significant correlation between the number of tray errors and time taken to perform the laparoscopic colectomy (r = 0.83, p = 0.001).
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  The results have demonstrated that there is a relationship between aptitude and ability to perform both basic laparoscopic tasks and laparoscopic colectomy on a simulator. The findings suggest that there may be a role for the consideration of an individual's inherent baseline ability when trying to design and optimise technical teaching curricula for advanced laparoscopic procedures.
authors.affiliation: National Surgical Training Centre, Royal College of Surgeons in Ireland, Dublin 2, Ireland. emmelinenugent@rcsi.ie
authors.forename: Emmeline
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Nugent
authors.forename: Hazem
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Hseino
authors.forename: Emily
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Boyle
authors.forename: Brian
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Mehigan
authors.forename: Kieran
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Ryan
authors.forename: Oscar
authors.initials: O
authors.lastname: Traynor
authors.forename: Paul
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Neary
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D001076:Aptitude; D002983:Clinical Competence; D003082:Colectomy / Q000193:education* / Q000523:psychology*; D012809:Colon, Sigmoid / Q000601:surgery; D003479:Curriculum; D003710:Demography; D006801:Humans; D010535:Laparoscopy / Q000193:education* / Q000523:psychology*; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires; D013647:Task Performance and Analysis; D014584:User-Computer Interface