Individualized Deliberate Practice on a Virtual Reality Simulator

NCT01753947 | Completed

• 1 other identifier: Deliberate Practice
• Study Type: interventional
• Target: 16
• Locations: 1 country
• Sites: 1

Brief Summary

Training on simulated models in a surgical skills laboratory has been shown to improve technical performance in the operating room. Currently described simulation-based curricula consist of trainees practicing the same tasks until expert proficiency is reached. It has yet to be investigated whether individualized deliberate practice, where curricula tasks vary depending on prior levels of technical proficiency, would translate to the operating room. This randomized controlled trial effectively demonstrates that deliberate practice on a virtual reality simulator results in an improvement in technical skills in a real clinical situation. This enhances the feasibility of implementing simulation-based curricula into residency training programs, and consequently has the potential to improve patient safety.

Conditions

Education; General Surgery

Outcome Measures

Primary Outcomes (1)

• Technical skills

  Participants' technical skills will be assessed in the operating room as they perform a laparoscopic cholecystectomy under supervision. The procedure will be video-recorded and sent for assessment to a blinded evaluator. Technical skills will be assessed using a previously validated technical skills assessment tool (Objective Structured Assessment of Technical Skill - OSATS)

  6 months

Study Arms (2)

Deliberate Practice

EXPERIMENTAL

Residents in the deliberate practice group received individualized feedback at the end of the initial assessment case. The staff surgeon supervising the case completed 3 previously validated technical skills assessment forms.

Other: Deliberate Practice

Conventional Feedback

NO INTERVENTION

Residents in the control group received informal feedback as they performed the initial laparoscopic cholecystectomy in the operating room. This was left up to the discretion of the staff surgeon supervising the operation. This corresponds to the routine teaching and feedback practices that occur during conventional surgical residency training

Interventions

Deliberate Practice OTHER

Deliberate Practice

Eligibility Criteria

• Sex: all
• Healthy Volunteers: Yes
• Age Groups: Child (0-17), Adult (18-64), Older Adult (65+)

You may qualify if:

• post graduate year 1 and 2 surgical residents
• performed less than 10 laparoscopic cholecystectomies as the primary surgeon

You may not qualify if:

• n/a

Sponsors & Collaborators

• Unity Health Toronto: lead
• Royal College of Physicians and Surgeons of Canada: collaborator

Study Sites (1)

University of Toronto

Toronto, Ontario, Canada

Location

Study Design

• Study Type: interventional
• Phase: not applicable
• Allocation: RANDOMIZED
• Masking: SINGLE
• Who Masked: PARTICIPANT
• Intervention Model: PARALLEL
• Sponsor Type: OTHER
• Responsible Party: SPONSOR

Study Record Dates

• First Submitted: December 7, 2012
• First Posted: December 20, 2012
• Study Start: January 1, 2008
• Primary Completion: January 1, 2011
• Study Completion: January 1, 2011
• Last Updated: December 20, 2012

Record last verified: 2012-12

Locations

CA (1)