title: Effect of Playing Video Games on Laparoscopic Skills Performance: A Systematic Review.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  The advances in both video games and minimally invasive surgery have allowed many to consider the potential positive relationship between the two. This review aims to evaluate outcomes of studies that investigated the correlation between video game skills and performance in laparoscopic surgery.
  
  
  METHODS
  A systematic search was conducted on PubMed/Medline and EMBASE databases for the MeSH terms and keywords including "video games and laparoscopy," "computer games and laparoscopy," "Xbox and laparoscopy," "Nintendo Wii and laparoscopy," and "PlayStation and laparoscopy." Cohort, case reports, letters, editorials, bulletins, and reviews were excluded. Studies in English, with task performance as primary outcome, were included. The search period for this review was 1950 to December 2014.
  
  
  RESULTS
  There were 57 abstracts identified: 4 of these were found to be duplicates; 32 were found to be nonrelevant to the research question. Overall, 21 full texts were assessed; 15 were excluded according to the Medical Education Research Study Quality Instrument quality assessment criteria. The five studies included in this review were randomized controlled trials. Playing video games was found to reduce error in two studies (P 0.002 and P 0.045). For the same studies, however, several other metrics assessed were not significantly different between the control and intervention group. One study showed a decrease in the time for the group that played video games (P 0.037) for one of two laparoscopic tasks performed. In the same study, however, when the groups were reversed (initial control group became intervention and vice versa), a difference was not demonstrated (P for peg transfer 1 - 0.465, P for cobra robe - 0.185). Finally, two further studies found no statistical difference between the game playing group and the control group's performance.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  There is a very limited amount of evidence to support that the use of video games enhances surgical simulation performance.
authors.affiliation: 1 St. James's University Hospital , Leeds, United Kingdom .
authors.forename: Daniel
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Glassman
authors.affiliation: 2 Healthcare Education Yorkshire and The Humber, School of Surgery , Leeds, United Kingdom .
authors.forename: Marina
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Yiasemidou
authors.affiliation: 3 University Hospital Southampton NHS Foundation Trust , Southampton, United Kingdom .
authors.forename: Hiro
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Ishii
authors.affiliation: 3 University Hospital Southampton NHS Foundation Trust , Southampton, United Kingdom .
authors.forename: Bhaskar Kumar
authors.initials: BK
authors.lastname: Somani
authors.affiliation: 4 NIHR (TUF) Academic Clinical Lecturer, Guy's Hospital , London, United Kingdom .
authors.forename: Kamran
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Ahmed
authors.affiliation: 1 St. James's University Hospital , Leeds, United Kingdom .
authors.forename: Chandra Shekhar
authors.initials: CS
authors.lastname: Biyani
mesh_terms: D002983:Clinical Competence; D003198:Computer Simulation; D004501:Education, Medical; D006801:Humans; D010535:Laparoscopy / Q000592:standards*; D000066908:Simulation Training; D013647:Task Performance and Analysis; D018910:Video Games