The effect of an attending versus neutral observer on peg transfer and intracorporeal knot-tying laparoscopic tasks.

BACKGROUND: Surgery is an outcome-based specialty where maintaining peak performance is crucial to patient care. There are a variety of identified surgeon stressors that can have an impact on performance, but one factor unique to surgical residents is the observation by an attending surgeon. This study explored how the perceived authority of the observer had an impact on the participants' physiologic markers of stress and task completion times. METHODS: Eighteen general surgery residents performed the Fundamentals of Laparoscopic Surgery skills intracorporeal knot-tying and peg transfer tasks in a crossover study design while under the observation of an attending and a neutral observer. Heart rate variability, mean R-R interval, the time between R spikes on an EKG, minimum heart rate, maximum heart rate, average heart rate, and time to task completion were recorded. Analyses were completed via 2 × 2 analysis of variance with repeated measures. RESULTS: When observed by an attending, participants demonstrated higher minimum, average, and maximum heart rates (P = .046, = .007, and < .001, respectively) than when observed by a neutral observer. Attending observation also significantly shortened time to task completion, relative to neutral observation (P = .022). CONCLUSION: Attending observation is linked to increased objective measures of stress at the time of performance with decreased task completion times. Educational efforts to optimize the response to stress during learning may lead to better outcomes.

Value of robotic surgery simulation for training surgical residents and attendings: a systematic review protocol.

INTRODUCTION: Robotic surgery is a method of minimally invasive surgery performed through small incisions using a remote robotic console. Surgical residents and attendings participate in simulation training to be able to effectively perform robotic surgery using wet labs, dry labs and virtual reality platforms. Our objective is to identify the effectiveness of robotic simulation on novice robotic surgeons. This review will answer our review question: To what extent are robotic simulations for training novice robotic general surgery residents and attendings associated with improved outcomes in comparison with no simulation training? METHODS AND ANALYSIS: A comprehensive search of PubMed, Embase, the Cochrane Library and Web of Science was performed. The studies were then determined to meet initial screening criteria by one individual for abstract and title with full text screening performed by two authors independently and in duplicate. Narrative themes will be collected, analysed and summarised where possible. ETHICS AND DISSEMINATION: There is no Institutional Review Board approval required given that the work is carried out on previously published papers. The final manuscript and results will be presented and published at an academic conference and peer -reviewed journal. PROSPERO REGISTRATION NUMBER: CRD42021274090.