Distribution of innate psychomotor skills recognized as important for surgical specialization in unconditioned medical undergraduates.
Surg Endosc
; 32(10): 4087-4095, 2018 10.
Article
en En
| MEDLINE
| ID: mdl-29541863
ABSTRACT
BACKGROUND:
There is an increasing interest for a test assessing objectively the innate aptitude for surgery as a craft specialty to complement the current selection process of surgical residents. The aim of this study was to quantify the size of individuals with high, average, and low level of innate psychomotor skills among medical students.METHODS:
A volunteer sample of 155 medical students, without prior experience with surgical simulator, executed five tasks at a virtual simulator for robot-assisted surgery. They had to reach proficiency twice consecutively in each before moving to the next one. A weighting based on time and number of attempts needed to reach proficiency was assigned to each task.RESULTS:
Nine students (5.8%) out of 155 significantly outperformed all the others on median (i.q.r.) weighted time [44.7 (42.2-47.3) min vs. 98.5 (70.8-131.8) min, p < 0.001], and number of attempts to reach proficiency [14 (12-15) vs. 23 (19-32.75), p < 0.001). Seventeen students (11.0%) scored significantly much worse than the rest on median weighted time [202.2 (182.5-221.0) min vs. 84.3 (65.7-114.4) min, p < 0.001], and number of attempts [42 (40-48) vs. 22 (17.25-28), p < 0.001]. Low correlation between simulator scores and extracurricular activities, like videogames and musical instruments, was found.CONCLUSIONS:
The test successfully identified two groups straddling the large cohort with average innate aptitude for psychomotor skills (i) innately gifted and (ii) with scarce level. Hence, exercises on a virtual simulator are a valid test of innate manual dexterity and can be considered to complement the selection process for a surgical training program, primarily to identify individuals with low innate aptitude for surgery and advise them to consider specialization in other (non-craft) medical specialties.Palabras clave
Texto completo:
1
Colección:
01-internacional
Base de datos:
MEDLINE
Asunto principal:
Desempeño Psicomotor
/
Especialización
/
Estudiantes de Medicina
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Cirugía General
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Simulación por Computador
/
Competencia Clínica
/
Educación de Pregrado en Medicina
Tipo de estudio:
Prognostic_studies
Límite:
Adult
/
Female
/
Humans
/
Male
Idioma:
En
Revista:
Surg Endosc
Asunto de la revista:
DIAGNOSTICO POR IMAGEM
/
GASTROENTEROLOGIA
Año:
2018
Tipo del documento:
Article
País de afiliación:
Italia