Surgeons who play video games more skilled

[DanTMWTMP]

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/17242911/

Playing video games appears to help surgeons with skills that truly count: how well they operate using a precise technique, a study said on Monday.

There was a strong correlation between video game skills and a surgeon?s capabilities performing laparoscopic surgery in the study published in the February issue of Archives of Surgery.

Laparoscopy and related surgeries involve manipulating instruments through a small incision or body opening where the surgeon?s movements are guided by watching a television screen.

Video game skills translated into higher scores on a day-and-half-long surgical skills test, and the correlation was much higher than the surgeon?s length of training or prior experience in laparoscopic surgery, the study said.

Out of 33 surgeons from Beth Israel Medical Center in New York that participated in the study, the nine doctors who had at some point played video games at least three hours per week made 37 percent fewer errors, performed 27 percent faster, and scored 42 percent better in the test of surgical skills than the 15 surgeons who had never played video games before.

?It was surprising that past commercial video game play was such a strong predictor of advanced surgical skills,? said Iowa State University psychology professor Douglas Gentile, one of the study?s authors.

It supports previous research that video games can improve ?fine motor skills, eye-hand coordination, visual attention, depth perception and computer competency,? the study said.

?Video games may be a practical teaching tool to help train surgeons,? senior author James Rosser of Beth Israel said.

While surgeons may benefit from playing video games, the study did not give parents a pass if their children play the games for hours on end.

A 2004 survey by Gentile found 94 percent of U.S. adolescents play video games for an average of nine hours a week. Game-playing has been linked to aggressiveness, poor school grades and can become a substitute for exercise.

?Parents should not see this study as beneficial if their child is playing video games for over an hour a day,? Gentile said. ?Spending that much time playing video games is not going to help their child?s chances of getting into medical school.?

lol @ last part.
discuss.

 

[Bateluer]

If I ever go in for surgery and the surgeons are debating WoW while prepping me . . . . :|

 

[JRich]

But, but , but video games are teh devil!

 

[imported_bum]

FPS gamers also performed better in real life weapons drills according to some study awhile back. Some country was going to use FPS games to train soldiers to deal with certain situations.

 

[Queasy]

Picture this scenario - As you lay on the table being put under by the anesthesiologist, you hear the following exchange:

Nurse: "Doctor, the patient is ready."
Doctor: "Hold on a minute damnit! I'm trying to get some l33t loot!"

 

[Nerva]

aight, if my surgeon doesnt have over a certain number of hours in a certain game, i want a different surgeon!

 

[jjones]

Great, as long as I don't hear an announcer saying "Godlike!" while I'm under the knife, I'm cool.

 

[Nerva]

Originally posted by: jjones
Great, as long as I don't hear an announcer saying "Godlike!" while I'm under the knife, I'm cool.

or multikill.

 

[Schadenfroh]

Originally posted by: jjones
Great, as long as I don't hear an announcer saying "Godlike!" while I'm under the knife, I'm cool.

You guys hear that stuff in real life as well?

 

[40Hands]

I would say certain games are probably better for this then others. I play FPS and I have really good hand eye coordination. MMORPGS probably not so much.

 

[Kelvrick]

Hmm... I would say real time strategy would be most beneficial.

 

[Geekbabe]

Originally posted by: Bateluer
If I ever go in for surgery and the surgeons are debating WoW while prepping me . . . . :|

most of the doctors I know are quite comfortable with high tech toys and gadgets,most of them are frightfully bright people with multiple skill sets.

 

[Kev]

Originally posted by: 3cho

Originally posted by: jjones
Great, as long as I don't hear an announcer saying "Godlike!" while I'm under the knife, I'm cool.

or multikill.

or about how he pwn3d that tumor

 

[40Hands]

Originally posted by: Kelvrick
Hmm... I would say real time strategy would be most beneficial.

RTS might be good but they're not as precise/reaction time dependent as FPS. RTS are usually played with a lot of KB shortcuts at a slower pace.

 

[slightlyhuman]

Originally posted by: Bateluer
If I ever go in for surgery and the surgeons are debating WoW while prepping me . . . . :|

i work in the OR and hear a few dr's talking about 5 hour raids.

you would be surprised what they talk about in the OR.

 

[daveymark]

"Doctor, you accidentally sliced the femoral artery!"

"M-M-M-Monster kill...kill..kill"

 

[zinfamous]

My brother and his fellow interns have been developing a video game over the last year to be used as a consumer-level home game. It's basically a surgery simulation, with a possible storyline attachment. They are designing a laproscopic joystick system to package with it. The software that surgeons generally train on is ridiculously expensive, and limited. They hope to tap a strange and unique market with this...I'm curious to see if it works. Research like this cna only help the potential market, I suppose.

RTS would not produce any beneficial effect. Surgery requires good hand-eye-coordination. Platforming, FPS would probably be the types of games involved in the study. I do a lot of micro-injection and mouse surgery in my lab. Most lab techs have believed for a long time that video games help to improve such lab techniques.

 

[Qwest]

I play Trauma Center, does that count?

 

[Kelvrick]

Originally posted by: 40Hands

Originally posted by: Kelvrick
Hmm... I would say real time strategy would be most beneficial.

RTS might be good but they're not as precise/reaction time dependent as FPS. RTS are usually played with a lot of KB shortcuts at a slower pace.

I guess it depends on the level of play. They both have their merits and to be sure, sugeons should play both.

 

[ForumMaster]

yeah this was posted on engadget yesterday. what, you can't say you've never played Dr. Mario, right?