1393 The Impact of Using A Virtual Reality Surgical Curriculum to Train Scrub Practitioners in Complex Orthopaedic Surgery

Abstract

Abstract Background The training scrub practitioners receive varies considerably in comparison to their surgical counterpart, although their performance is key to a proficient surgical team. For infrequent procedures that require specific and often intricate equipment such as revision total knee arthroplasty (RTKA), their training may be limited to an initial guidance session by company representatives. This study aims to evaluate the impact of using a virtual reality (VR) curriculum to train scrub practitioners in the performance of a RTKA. Method Ten orthopaedic scrub practitioners were enrolled into VR training across four sessions. Each VR session consisted of training where participants were guided through the assembly of equipment and steps of the surgery. In the concluding three sessions, each training session was supplemented by an assessment session in VR without guidance. The outcomes measured in VR assessment were incorrect procedural sequence, duration of surgery and efficiency of movement. The transfer of skills outside VR were assessed pre-training and post-training by the participants performance in a sequence of tasks using real equipment. Results All participants enhanced their surgical performance in successive assessed VR sessions reducing their operative time by 47%, assistive prompts by 75% and dominant hand motion by 28%. Improvements in VR showed effective transfer when assessed using real equipment with participants achieving superior scores post-training (11.3% versus 83.5%). Conclusions VR enables safe learning and provides measurable feedback of procedural steps and technical skills of complex orthopaedic surgery. VR is an effective training tool for scrub practitioners, with transfer to the real world.