Purpose: Minimally invasive surgery for gastrointestinal cancers is rapidly advancing; therefore, surgical education must be changed. This study aimed to examine the feasibility of early initiation of robotic surgery education for surgical residents.
Methods: The ability of staff physicians and residents to handle robotic surgical instruments was assessed using the da Vinci® skills simulator (DVSS). The short-term outcomes of 32 patients with colon cancer who underwent robot-assisted colectomy (RAC) by staff physicians and residents, supervised by a dual console system, between August 2022 and March 2024 were compared.
Results: The performances of four basic exercises were assessed after implementation of the DVSS. Residents required less time to complete these exercises and achieved a higher overall score than staff physicians. There were no significant differences in the short-term outcomes, operative time, blood loss, incidence of postoperative complications, and length of the postoperative hospital stay of the two surgeon groups.
Conclusion: Based on the evaluation involving the DVSS and RAC results, it appears feasible to begin robotic surgery training at an early stage of surgical education using a dual console system.
Keywords: Colorectal cancer surgery; Dual console system; Robotic surgery; Simulator; Surgical education.
© 2024. The Author(s), under exclusive licence to Springer-Verlag GmbH Germany, part of Springer Nature.