Role and value of laparoscopic training devices in assessing nondominant and two-handed dexterity

Background and objectives: To determine improvement in hand dexterity with targeted laparoscopic skill exercises desirable for use in the operating rooms among in-training laparoscopic gynaecological surgeons and medical students. Design: Cross-sectional study with paired analysis. Setting: Kiel School of Gynaecological Endoscopy and Reproductive Medicine, Germany, between February and April 2005. Subjects: Twenty third-year medical students and 20 in-training gynaecological endoscopic surgeons from various parts of the world. Interventions: Demonstration and explanation of a set of five laparoscopic skill exercises desirable for use in the operating rooms before administering a pretest. This was followed by voluntary practice of these exercises for at least 10 times over 1 day. The posttest was performed the next day once the participant was comfortable performing the skill. Pre- and posttest assessments were conducted by independent supervisors. Main outcome measures: Time to completion of tasks with minimal errors. Results: There was significant reduction in mean time for all the laparoscopic skill exercises performed with dominant, nondominant, and both hands, before and after the training and practice (p-value <0.01; paired t-test). Moderate to high correlation (0.617–0.901) was seen with the intermediate and complex/difficult tasks, whereas low correlation was seen with the simple/easy task (0.200–0.336). Medical students and gynaecologists both showed improvement in performance from pretest to posttest in terms of reduction in mean time taken to perform all the tasks with minimal errors. Conclusions: Simple laparoscopic training devices can substantially help an individual hand’s improvement and acquisition of laparoscopic skills. Simple laparoscopic training devices along with animal models will continue to provide an efficient and effective environment for learning and teaching laparoscopic surgical skills. With this training, performance improves progressively with practice.