Comparison of the sensitivity of physical and virtual laparoscopic surgical training simulators to the user's level of experience

Background: The recent focus on quality of care and patient safety has been accompanied by increased interest in standardizing the training for laparoscopic surgeons. Studies have shown that laparoscopic simulators can be used to train surgical skills. Therefore, we designed an experiment to compare the effectiveness of two popular training systems. One system was based on a physical model, whereas the other used a virtual reality model. Methods: A total of 32 medical students and residents were tested on both simulators. Time required for task completion and number of errors committed were recorded and compared. Results: The physical training system differentiated among experience levels on three of the five tasks when time was used as a measure and four of five tasks when score was used, whereas the virtual reality system yielded statistically significant results in eight of 13 tasks for time and in five of 13 tasks for score. Conclusion: The physical model is more sensitive than the virtual reality one in detecting differences in levels of laparoscopic surgical experience.