Virtual reality ureteroscopy simulator as a valid tool for assessing endourological skills
Bibliographic record
Abstract
AIM: Virtual reality (VR) simulators are now commercially available for various surgical skills training. The Uro Mentor VR Ureteroscopy Simulator by Symbionix is one system that may revolutionize the way we assess and teach surgical residents. Surgical educators may no longer have to depend on the operating room as the sole venue for teaching residents technical skills. We validated performance on this new system with previously developed assessment tools and compared it to performance on a high fidelity ureteroscopy bench model. METHODS: Urology residents (n = 16) were assessed on their ability to perform cystoscopy, guidewire insertion, semirigid ureteroscopy and basket extraction of a distal ureteric stone on the VR simulator. A blinded examiner assessed subject performance using a checklist, global rating scale and a pass/fail rating. In addition, computer-generated parameters including time to complete task, scope and instrument trauma and the number of attempts to insert a guidewire were analysed. Performance on the VR simulator was compared to performance on a high fidelity ureteroscopy bench model. RESULTS: Senior residents (n = 8) scored significantly higher on their global rating scale (29.4 +/- 2.5 vs 20.8 +/- 0.9, P = 0.005), checklist (19.1 +/- 1.1 vs 15.2 +/- 0.9, P = 0.02), pass/fail rating (chi(2) = 7.3, P = 0.007) and required less time to complete the task (352.9 +/- 55.7 s vs 576.8 +/- 67.4 s., P = 0.02) than the junior residents (n = 8) on the VR simulator. Junior residents also had a significantly higher incidence of scope trauma (4 vs 0.6, P = 0.02). No significant differences were noted in instrument trauma and the number of attempts to insert the guidewire. Global rating scale performance on the VR simulator correlated well to performance on the high fidelity ureteroscopy bench model (r = 0.7, P = 0.002) as did time to complete task (r = 0.7, P = 0.004). CONCLUSIONS: The Uro Mentor VR Ureteroscopy Simulator is a useful tool in assessing resident endourological skills. Performance on the VR simulator is comparable to a validated high fidelity ureteroscopy bench model. Future studies will assess the utility of VR simulators in surgical skills training.
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How this classification was reachedexpand
Full frame machine prediction
Teacher imitationNot calibrated prevalence, not ground truth. Human validation pending. The Gemma side is a direct model label for every work in the frame, read from the title-only record. The Codex side is a classifier learned from the 10,348 direct Codex labels and calibrated to design-weighted sample rates; fields without enough sample support carry no Codex call. Candidate is the union of the two sides; consensus is their intersection. These outputs are machine_predicted_unvalidated and are not human labels.
Distilled classifier scores by category (both heads)
| Category | Codex | Gemma |
|---|---|---|
| Metaresearch | 0.004 | 0.013 |
| Meta-epidemiology (narrow) | 0.000 | 0.000 |
| Meta-epidemiology (broad) | 0.000 | 0.000 |
| Bibliometrics | 0.000 | 0.000 |
| Science and technology studies | 0.000 | 0.000 |
| Scholarly communication | 0.001 | 0.001 |
| Open science | 0.000 | 0.001 |
| Research integrity | 0.000 | 0.000 |
| Insufficient payload (model declined to judge) | 0.002 | 0.000 |
Machine scores (provisional)
The two teacher heads of the student model, read on this work. A score orders the frame for review; it never asserts a category, and the validation status ships verbatim with every row.
Baseline scores from an immature model (maturity gate not passed, 7 training rounds). Scores rank; they never assert a category.
score_only:v0-immature-baseline · verbatim from the scoring run: score_only means the number may rank works, and no category label ships from itClassification
machine, unvalidatedMachine predicted; a candidate call from one source (direct Gemma or distilled Codex), not a consensus.
How this classification was reached, model by model and score by score, is at the end of the page under "How this classification was reached".