The
pressure is mounting. Each move is critical and must be handled delicately, but
time is running out. He stares at the image projected on the screen and adjusts
his tools accordingly. His reaction time to his on- screen tasks is impeccable.
He finishes without mistakes, saving a life in the process. He re-enters the
real world, earning claps and pats on the back from the audience who had been
holding its collective breath all around him. He feels the rush of success,
triumphing over the strange reddish- purple world that he has been focusing on
for many hours. The self- congratulation is well deserved… he did, after all,
fight off an alien invasion! He shakes his cramped muscles out, puts his tools
down, and begins to clean himself off, reveling in the feeling of a
laparoscopic surgery well done.
It is hard to believe that a pastime
that some people consider a waste of time could actually be a tool in a
lucrative and life- saving profession… right? That is exactly what video gaming
is to a new generation laparoscopic surgeons, according to a few studies
connecting the two. For those unfamiliar with this type of surgery, laparoscopy
is a way for surgeons to avoid making big cuts in order to see the internal
work they need to do. A camera within a thin tube, called a laparoscope, is
inserted into this small cut, acting as the surgeon’s eyes. The surgeon can see
everything that he or she needs to see on an external screen while the internal
camera serves as a guide. The multiple
benefits to this type of surgery
(compared to open surgery), including less pain, minimal scarring, and a
quicker recovery time, make the procedure appealing to patients.
Oh... That's what that looks like?
Just as the rapid evolution of
technology has spurred changes in language, media coverage, and global
communication, it has also altered the medical world. Doctors from Beth Israel
Medical Center in New York noticed
that younger surgeons spent hours playing video games and began to wonder if
there was a link between the hand- eye coordination necessary in laparoscopic
surgery and that built by continuous use of video games. Doctors Rosser, Lynch,
Haskamp, Yalif, Gentile, and Giammaria constructed an experiment
involving the use of laparoscopic surgery drills and performance in video
games. The results of the experiment conclude that subjects who play video
games score 40% higher in the suturing course than those who do not play video
games and that participants who have played more than three hours per week perform
significantly (42%) better in drills and suturing than those who play less than
three hours per week. Essentially, within the scope of this experiment, the
experiences that the subjects have with video gaming translate to their
surgical skills. The results of this study indicate that video games can be an
exercise for laparoscopic surgeons to work out their reflexes and hand- eye
coordination, enabling more successful surgical outcomes.
The visuals are so realistic!
In another study, subjects were given a pre- test and a post- test in order to directly
determine any changes in their surgical procedure as a result of video game
exposure. This experiment, run by Doctors Sadandanan, Dryfhout, and Sosnowski
and published in the Journal of Gynecologic Surgery derived that the time it
took participants to transfer objects, make incisions, and stretch rubber bands
was significantly decreased after the subjects had played video games. The
conclusion states that video games are advantageous to surgeons because they
aid in the performance time, thus enabling a patient to spend less time under
anesthesia, which lowers the risk factor.
Run Usain, run!
In a world where the rate of
technological improvement seems to outpace the speed of Usain Bolt during the
hundred- meter dash, it should come as no surprise that even sensitive life or
death situations can be affected. (What is surprising is that there is not a
huge company catering specifically to the needs of the surgeon video game
market… yet.) Though many people, parents especially, protest the usually
violent content of video games, there is no denying that the actual way in
which the games are played fosters a hand- eye coordination which can be
beneficial for certain professions, namely laparoscopic surgeons. So if you are
a parent, the next time you want to punish your children for spending too much
time playing video games keep in mind that one day they could be in an operating
room drawing upon their virtual experience to help keep people healthy. Thinking
about the paycheck could be great incentive as well.
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