Comparison of the sensitivity of physical and virtual laparoscopic surgical training simulators to the user's level of experience.

BACKGROUND: The recent focus on quality of care and patient safety has been accompanied by increased interest in standardizing the training for laparoscopic surgeons. Studies have shown that laparoscopic simulators can be used to train surgical skills. Therefore, we designed an experiment to compare the effectiveness of two popular training systems. One system was based on a physical model, whereas the other used a virtual reality model. METHODS: A total of 32 medical students and residents were tested on both simulators. Time required for task completion and number of errors committed were recorded and compared. RESULTS: The physical training system differentiated among experience levels on three of the five tasks when time was used as a measure and four of five tasks when score was used, whereas the virtual reality system yielded statistically significant results in eight of 13 tasks for time and in five of 13 tasks for score. CONCLUSION: The physical model is more sensitive than the virtual reality one in detecting differences in levels of laparoscopic surgical experience.

Multimedia presentations in the age of the Health Insurance and Accountability Act.

The privacy rule of the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA) has made all physicians think more about their patients' privacy. In addition to safeguarding health information in routine office practice, doctors now are starting to consider the effects of the regulations on other professional activities including professional clinical multimedia presentations. This article explains specifically where and how multimedia (e.g., images, video) patient information may be used and shared. Although HIPAA itself is a lengthy and detailed document, a few simple rules can be extracted, which when followed, ensure that neither presentations nor patient privacy need to be sacrificed.