title: Endourological simulator performance in female but not male medical students predicts written examination results in basic surgery.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  The objective of this study was to examine the correlation between endourological simulator performance and demonstrated theoretical knowledge in the basic surgical sciences.
  
  
  METHODS
  In total, 158 fourth year medical students participated in the study, 83 females and 75 males, all surgical novices. All students performed the flexible endoscopic task Hall of Fame in the urological simulator URO Mentor™. Later during the same semester all students took the final theoretical examination in surgery.
  
  
  RESULTS
  In female medical students a significant correlation was found between surgical simulator performance and the examination results (r = -0.22, p = 0.04). There was no statistically significant correlation when looking at the total study population (r = -0.04, p = 0.58) or when looking at male medical students (r = 0.01, p = 0.9).
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Female medical students completing an endourological simulator task more efficiently passed the theoretical examination in the basic surgical sciences with significantly higher scores than females with low efficiency in the urological simulator. There are likely to be several explanations for this correlation, such as motivation and a lower amount of current video gaming experience.
authors: Division of Orthopedics, Institution for Clinical Science, Intervention and Technology (CLINTEC), Karolinska Institutet, Stockholm, Sweden.
authors: Marcus
authors: M
authors: Schlickum
authors: Li
authors: L
authors: Felländer-Tsai
authors: Leif
authors: L
authors: Hedman
authors: Lars
authors: L
authors: Henningsohn
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D002983:Clinical Competence / Q000592:standards*; D003198:Computer Simulation / Q000592:standards*; D004504:Education, Medical, Undergraduate / Q000592:standards*; D004521:Educational Measurement / Q000379:methods* / Q000592:standards; D004724:Endoscopy / Q000379:methods*; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D009042:Motivation; D011237:Predictive Value of Tests; D012737:Sex Factors; D013997:Time Factors; D013520:Urologic Surgical Procedures / Q000379:methods*; D018910:Video Games