Effectiveness of an Integrated Video Recording and Replaying System in Robotic Surgical Training.

Objective: This study evaluated the effectiveness of using a video recording and replaying system in robotic surgical training. Summary Background Data: Robotic surgical videos are reviewed to accelerate the acquisition of robotic surgical skills. However, few professional recording and replaying systems have been used during robotic surgical training. The effectiveness of these professional video systems should be investigated and validated. Methods: A randomized study was conducted to analyze the performance of 60 participants, who were unfamiliar with surgical robotics, in a robotic simulator. Participants were enrolled in 2 groups to perform 2 exercises on a Mimic dV-Trainer. One group was trained with the new protocol based on a recording and replaying system (controller of events on simulator and robot) and the other group was trained with the conventional method. The overall scores were automatically evaluated by the simulator. The number of additional requests for reviewing the videos or watching the trainer's demonstration and the learning curves based on the overall scores were compared between the 2 groups. Results: The group trained with controller of events on simulator and robot presented a significantly improved learning curve in both exercises (P < 0.001) with more additional requests (P < 0.001) in comparison with the group trained with the conventional method. Conclusions: In robotic skills training, the use of a recording and replay system is beneficial and more efficient than the conventional training method.