August 7, 2008
Arizona Hospital Studies the Use of Wii to Train Surgeons
Could playing with Nintendo’s Wii console improve the efficiency of surgeons? The first results of a study carried by the Banner Good Samaritan Hospital, in Phoenix, seem to indicate so.
The physicians enrolled in this study who regularly played on the console scored 48 percent higher on surgical control than their peers who didn’t.
“The surgeons develop an increased efficiency, less errors, more fluid movement—basically they’re just better,” Mark Smith, director of the hospital’s Simulation Education and Training Center, told The Guardian. Smith and his colleagues are carrying a study on 16 surgical residents evenly split in two groups; one gaming regularly, the other not.
Although previous studies had already concluded that surgeons who are gamers show better hand-to-eye coordination and dexterity than those who don’t play video games, Smith believes the Wii system allows physicians to improve these skills even faster, because the console’s motion-sensitive controller allows some games to require very precise hand movements, similar to those executed during surgery.
The hospital research team is now developing its own training games and they expect to be able to mass produce them in two years.—Maria José Viñas
Posted on Thursday August 7, 2008 | Permalink |Comments
Commenting is closed for this article.
Previous: Faster Wi-Fi Predicted for Colleges
Next: Online Enrollments Rise With High Gas Prices and Low Economy
Horray for Donkey Kong!!! My parents said that It was a waste of my time. If they had not stopped me, I would be a surgeon today?????
— Joe the screwed Aug 8, 09:38 AM #
Selection doesn’t appear to be ruled out in this study, leaving only speculation as to the causes of good surgeons. That is, the selection into the study of surgeons who use Wii might reflect the surgical control they already possess instead of creating it, leaving all of us still waiting to learn how they got that way.
— David W. Virtue Aug 11, 02:24 PM #