Repetitive stereotactics: an inanimate laboratory technique to improve hand-eye coordination in laparoscopy

Objective To assess an inanimate laboratory technique to improve hand-eye coordination in laparoscopy. Subjects 12 members of the medical staff at the Royal Hospital for Women, Sydney, were stratified into three groups: (1) young with no previous laparoscopic experience, i.e. first-year resident; (2) young with some previous experience, i.e. registrar, and (3) mature with extensive experience in operative laparoscopy, i.e. established surgeon. Methods A planned, sequentially more difficult programme of hand-eye coordination exercises using a pelvi-trainer was established. Performance was measured by recording the time taken for each subject to successfully and accurately complete each exercise. Results All subjects showed an improved performance in completing the described exercises, Group 1, showed the most improvement. Group 3 showed the least improvement but demonstrated the best performance. All groups demonstrated a similar performance by the end of the course. Conclusion The pelvi-trainer in conjunction with a structured series of exercises appears to allow a trainee to improve hand-eye coordination significantly. Considering that the same equipment is used as that in the operating theatre, it is reasonable to expect similar improvement in actual surgery.