Evidence map›Paper›PMID 37817201›Full record

Trial reportBMC medical education2023

Tele-mentoring - a way to expand laparoscopic simulator training for medical students over large distances: a prospective randomized pilot study.

Ninos Oussi, Emil Forsberg, Michael Dahlberg, Lars Enochsson

Open access · goldAbstract readRandomized Controlled Trial
In one paragraph

Trial report in BMC medical education, 2023. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 4 papers.

0numbers the graph read from it
0cells of the map it votes in
4citing papers in PubMed
0.6field-weighted citation impact, top 29% of its field
1 · What the graph read from it

What it found

Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.

The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.

2 · The registry

The trial behind it

Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.

Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.

3 · Its place in the literature

Who cites it

4 citing papers in PubMed, 2 citations in OpenAlex.

  1. Article
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4 · The record

Corrections and comments

PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.

5 · Who and what money

Authors and funding

4 authors at 4 institutions in 1 country.

Ninos OussiCentre for Clinical Research, Region Sörmland, Uppsala University, Eskilstuna, Sweden.
Emil ForsbergDepartment of Surgical and Perioperative Sciences, Division of Surgery, Umeå University, Umeå, Sweden.
Michael DahlbergDepartment of Surgical and Perioperative Sciences, Division of Surgery, Umeå University, Umeå, Sweden.
Lars EnochssonDepartment of Surgical and Perioperative Sciences, Division of Surgery, Umeå University, Umeå, Sweden. lars.enochsson@umu.se.
Karolinska Institutet · SESunderby sjukhus · SEUmeå University · SEUppsala University · SE

Funding

No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.

6 · The paper itself

Abstract

backgroundStudies have shown the clinical benefits of laparoscopic simulator training. Decreasing numbers of operations by surgical residents have further increased the need for surgical simulator training. However, many surgical simulators in Sweden are often insufficiently used or not used at all. Furthermore, large geographical distances make access to curriculum-based surgical simulator training at established simulator centres difficult. The aim of this study was to evaluate whether tele-mentoring (TM) could be well tolerated and improve basic laparoscopic surgical skills of medical students 900 km away from the teacher.

methodsTwenty students completed an informed consent and a pre-experimental questionnaire. The students were randomized into two groups: (1) TM (N = 10), receiving instructor feedback via video-link and (2) control group (CG, N = 10) with lone practice. Initial warm-up occurred in the Simball Box simulator with one Rope Race task followed by five consecutive Rope Race and three Peg Picker tasks. Afterwards, all students completed a second questionnaire.

resultsThe whole group enjoyed the simulator training (prescore 73.3% versus postscore 89.2%, P < 0.0001). With TM, the simulator Rope Race overall score increased (prescore 30.8% versus postscore 43.4%; P = 0.004), and the distance that the laparoscopic instruments moved decreased by 40% (P = 0.015), indicating better precision, whereas in the CG it did not. In Peg Picker, the overall scores increased, whereas total time and distance of the instruments decreased in both groups, indicating better performance and precision.

conclusionsSimulation training was highly appreciated overall. The TM group showed better overall performance with increased precision in what we believe to be the visuospatially more demanding Rope Race tasks compared to the CG. We suggest that surgical simulator tele-mentoring over long distances could be a viable way to both motivate and increase laparoscopic basic skills training in the future.

Indexed as

LaparoscopyMentoringSimulation TrainingStudents, MedicalClinical CompetenceComputer SimulationHumansPilot ProjectsProspective StudiesLaparoscopyOutcomeSimulationSparsely populatedTele-mentoringTraining

Identifiers

PMID37817201
PMCPMC10566045
OpenAlexW4387494333

What OpenQuestion holds

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LicenceCC BY
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Registered trials

None linked

Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.