Procedure-to-procedure Transfer Trial

May 9, 2015 updated by: Flemming Bjerrum, Rigshospitalet, Denmark

A Randomised Educational Trial of Practicing One Versus Two Laparoscopic Procedural Modules in Simulator Training for Novices on Procedure-to-procedure Transferability

Surgical training programs using virtual reality simulators often only use basic skills training and the use of procedural training is very limited. Procedural training differs from basic skills training by requiring integration of isolated skills and decision making and planning components. However, it is unknown if it is necessary to practice all procedures before operating on actual patients or whether it is simply a matter of learning psychomotor skills and if these skills are transferable between different tasks.

The main hypothesis is that practicing a laparoscopic procedure on a simulator makes it easier to reach proficiency on a different laparoscopic procedure on the simulator because participants have already practiced the integration of isolated skills.

Study Overview

Status

Completed

Conditions

Intervention / Treatment

Study Type

Interventional

Enrollment (Actual)

96

Phase

  • Not Applicable

Contacts and Locations

This section provides the contact details for those conducting the study, and information on where this study is being conducted.

Study Locations

      • Copenhagen, Denmark, DK2100
        • Rigshospitalet

Participation Criteria

Researchers look for people who fit a certain description, called eligibility criteria. Some examples of these criteria are a person's general health condition or prior treatments.

Eligibility Criteria

Ages Eligible for Study

18 years to 70 years (Adult, Older Adult)

Accepts Healthy Volunteers

Yes

Genders Eligible for Study

All

Description

Inclusion Criteria:

  • Medical students enrolled at The Faculty of Health Science, University of Copenhagen.
  • Obtained the bachelor degree in medicine.
  • Signed informed consent.

Exclusion Criteria:

  • Previous participation in trials involving laparoscopic training.
  • Experience with laparoscopy surgery (having performed minimum one laparoscopic procedure as primary surgeon, including supervised procedures).
  • No informed consent.
  • Does not speak Danish on a conversational level.

Study Plan

This section provides details of the study plan, including how the study is designed and what the study is measuring.

How is the study designed?

Design Details

  • Allocation: Randomized
  • Interventional Model: Parallel Assignment
  • Masking: None (Open Label)

Arms and Interventions

Participant Group / Arm
Intervention / Treatment
Experimental: Practice two procedures on a simulator

All participants start by practicing a series of six basic skills modules until they reach a predefined proficiency level for each module. For all of the basic skills exercises proficiency is reached when the participants have passed the proficiency level for all exercises.

Participants randomised to the intervention group will practice two procedures on a simulator. First a procedural module A (a laparoscopic appendectomy) to a predefined proficiency level. Upon reaching proficiency for procedural module A the participants will practice procedural module B (a laparoscopic salpingectomy) to a predefined proficiency level.

No Intervention: Practice one procedure on a simulator

All participants start by practicing a series of six basic skills modules until they reach a predefined proficiency level for each module. For all of the basic skills exercises proficiency is reached when the participants have passed the proficiency level for all exercises. Each exercise has to be passed twice within five consecutive attempts.

Participants randomised to the control group will practice procedural module B (a laparoscopic salpingectomy) to a predefined proficiency level.

What is the study measuring?

Primary Outcome Measures

Outcome Measure
Measure Description
Time Frame
The number of repetitions needed to reach a predefined proficiency level for a procedural module on a simulator
Time Frame: Up to 26 weeks
The number of repetitions needed to reach a predefined proficiency level for a procedural module (a laparoscopic salpingectomy) on the simulator.
Up to 26 weeks

Secondary Outcome Measures

Outcome Measure
Measure Description
Time Frame
The effective training time on the simulator (minutes) needed to reach the predefined proficiency level for a procedural module.
Time Frame: Up to 26 weeks
The effective training time on the simulator (minutes) needed to reach a predefined proficiency level for a procedural module (a laparoscopic salpingectomy) on the simulator.
Up to 26 weeks

Other Outcome Measures

Outcome Measure
Measure Description
Time Frame
Subjective Mental Effort Question score after the 1st repetition
Time Frame: Up to 26 weeks
To score the level of stress, all the participants will be required to the Subjective Mental Effort Questionnaire after the first repetition of a procedural module. The SMEQ is a cognitive workload questionnaire with a scale of 0 to 150 points
Up to 26 weeks
Motor skills performance parameters
Time Frame: Up to 26 weeks
  1. The total path length (cumulative distance tip movement for both the right and left instrument) for the first attempt on procedural module B will be compared for the intervention and the control group.
  2. The total angular path (cumulative angular degrees for both the right and left instrument) for the first attempt on procedural module B will be compared for the intervention and the control group.
  3. The total procedure time for the first attempt on procedural module B will be compared for the intervention and the control group.
Up to 26 weeks

Collaborators and Investigators

This is where you will find people and organizations involved with this study.

Sponsor

Collaborators

Investigators

  • Principal Investigator: Flemming Bjerrum, MD, Rigshospitalet, Denmark

Publications and helpful links

The person responsible for entering information about the study voluntarily provides these publications. These may be about anything related to the study.

Study record dates

These dates track the progress of study record and summary results submissions to ClinicalTrials.gov. Study records and reported results are reviewed by the National Library of Medicine (NLM) to make sure they meet specific quality control standards before being posted on the public website.

Study Major Dates

Study Start

February 1, 2014

Primary Completion (Actual)

September 1, 2014

Study Completion (Actual)

September 1, 2014

Study Registration Dates

First Submitted

February 20, 2014

First Submitted That Met QC Criteria

February 20, 2014

First Posted (Estimate)

February 24, 2014

Study Record Updates

Last Update Posted (Estimate)

May 12, 2015

Last Update Submitted That Met QC Criteria

May 9, 2015

Last Verified

May 1, 2015

More Information

Terms related to this study

Other Study ID Numbers

  • 102169

This information was retrieved directly from the website clinicaltrials.gov without any changes. If you have any requests to change, remove or update your study details, please contact register@clinicaltrials.gov. As soon as a change is implemented on clinicaltrials.gov, this will be updated automatically on our website as well.