Abstract
This study evaluated the use of a video-based training environment, to support training the perceptual “rules” necessary for situation assessment during laparoscopic surgery. The training system shows multiple examples of procedural steps using edited laparoscopic surgery videos to enforce absorption, expose the learner to varied anatomy, and stress crucial maneuvers. A between-subjects experiment with 30 medical students showed a ten percent increase in cognitive skills as measured by pretest/posttest sets of test questions as compared to a control group who had access to the same videos but in an unstructured format for the same amount of time (p<.05). This difference was attributed primarily to improvements in perceptual judgments, as opposed to improvements in procedural, strategic, declarative or counterexample knowledge. This study shows that video repetition is a potential means for training perceptual rule-based skills in an effective and efficient manner.
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