Association Professor Cornell University College of Veterinary Medicine
Simulation training is a vital component to surgical training in human medical programs and has become more present and necessary in veterinary medicine as well. The objective of this study was to assess the learning curve minimally invasive surgery naïve veterinary student on two tasks on a robotic simulator. This was a descriptive case series including 23 veterinary students. Each student performed two tasks (“Pick and Place”, “Knot the Ring 1”) using the Mimic dV-Trainer™ until proficiency reached. Individual performance motion metric variables were recorded. The learning curve was determined by the number of attempts required to reach proficiency. Performance variables were assessed for effect on proficiency by Kendal tau correlation and linear regression. A median of 8 attempts (95% CI: 7-8, range 6 to 11) was necessary to reach proficiency for the “Pick and Place” task vs 22 attempts (95% CI:20-26, range 11 to 62) for the “Knot the Ring 1” task. Number of attempts to reach proficiency correlated moderately to strongly with Economy of Motion (tau=0.77, p<0.0001), Instrument Collisions (tau=0.48, p=0.001) and Total Task Time (tau=0.94, p<0.0001). First successful Total Task Time strongly predicted number of attempts to proficiency (r2=0.85, p<0.001). A difference was detected between the learning curves of veterinary students between basic and advanced robotic simulator tasks. Economy of Motion, Instrument Collisions and Total Task Time were the most important variables affecting proficiency. The main study limitation was small sample size. Robotic simulators could add to the armamentarium of surgical training tools in veterinary medicine.
