We used a cognitive architecture (ACT-R) to explore the procedural learning of surgical tasks and then to understand the process of perceptual motor learning and skill decay in surgical skill performance. The ACT-R cognitive model simulates declarative memory processes during motor learning. In this ongoing study, four surgical tasks (bimanual carrying, peg transfer, needle passing, and suture ...

What Is the Innovation? Surgical skills impactpatientoutcomes.1Ourprofessionneedsmethods that accurately and objectively evaluate surgical skills.2 These methodsmustprovidetimelyandmeaningful feedback,minimizereviewtimeburden,andscaleforwidespreaduse.Thisevaluationhurdle may be overcome by leveraging crowdsourcing to help triage outliers and focus improvement efforts. Crowdsourcing is the proce...

In most surgical training systems, task completion time and error ratio are common metrics of surgical skill. To avoid applying unnecessary and injurious force to the tissue, surgeons must know for themselves how much force they are exerting as they handle surgical tools. Our goal is to develop an endoscopic sinus surgery (ESS) training system that quantitatively evaluates the trainee's surgica...

BACKGROUND Despite many high-quality programs in basic surgical-skill education, the surgical skill of junior doctors varies widely. This, together with the waning interest in surgery as a career among medical students, is a serious issue confronted by hospitals and healthcare systems worldwide. We, therefore, developed and implemented an intensive one-day surgical-skill training course for two...

In the context of minimally invasive surgery, clinical risks are highly associated with surgeons' skill in manipulating surgical tools and their knowledge of the closed anatomy. A quantitative surgical skill assessment can reduce faulty procedures and prevent some surgical risks. In this paper focusing on sinus surgery, we present two methods to identify both skill level and task type by record...