Cross-Cultural Blog

I also have seen my fair share of operating tables and have more surgery scars then I care to show.
So, for my research paper, it seemed fitting to combine these two great influences in my life and look at surgery and video gaming. After some insightful input from my peers and a bit of revision, I thought the best way to narrow my topic would to be look at how video gaming and simulated surgeries, a different type of video gaming, can help to make better surgeons. As the medical technology has evolved, training cannot be done so much with actual instruments. Instead, the more traditional training of the past has been supplanted with virtual training which is helping to train better surgeons with this new technology. What is very interesting though is that some of these simulations are having a correlation to video games, in that video games and experience playing them are helping medical school students do better in their simulations. With so much happening now, I really wanted to jump in and study this topic further and research it in many forms.
Although a lot of my research will be done in person with interviews of both my mom and faculty of the Stanford Medical School. I wanted to start with some articles. I came across one article recounting the results of a study done connecting video game playing with Laparoscopic surgery. Entitled The Impact Of Video Games on Training Surgeons in the 21st Century, this team of professors and doctors used Super Monkey Ball 2, Silent Scope, and Star Wars Racer Revenge to determine the level of video game play. Using thirty-three residents and physicians, they then gave each person surveys to determine past and present experiences with both gaming and with performing laparoscopic surgery. They then made each person go through a surgery skills and suturing program that they called “Top Gun.”
The findings to all the doctors were astounding. Subjects that indicated playing video games on any system for more than 3 hours a week were committed 37% fewer errors. Even if gaming was not that often played, anyone who had any experience gaming scored 33% on “Top Gun” then those who indicated they had never gamed. Gaming also produced increased efficiency as those who had gamed finished the “Top Gun” exercise 24% faster. The breakdown goes even further when you incorporate the level of game play. This is not as important though to the bottom line as even just a small amount of gaming affected results.
The authors of the article were very convinced by these findings concluding that , “video game skill correlates with laparoscopic surgical skill.” They even went on to add that, “video games may be a practical teaching tool to help train surgeons.” This source was very helpful to me because I believe this is the stance I want to take on my argument as well. Although this article does not speak so greatly to the simulations used in training, it does talk to how video games can effect this training portion of my argument. it also has a list of other references that I can jump into to further my research. This source though is clearly for the aide of simulations and video games to train surgeons. It at one point describes the surgery that needs to be performed and how the devices used to control the equipment are joysticks and other controllers. But it also begs the question that is this one study with 33 people enough to conclude that video games help surgery? And if so, shouldn’t we be using more games and implementing more of this technology in medical schools? I’m sure the students here at Stanford would love an extra Wii or two.

Works Cited
Rosser, James C., Ronald Merrell, Jonathan Klonsky, Douglas A. Gentile, Laurie Cuddihy, and Paul J. Lynch. "The Impact of Video Games on Training Surgeons in the 21st Century." Archives of Surgery 142.2 (2007). Print.