Document Type

Article

Publication Title

American Journal of Surgery

Abstract

Background: The COVID-19 pandemic drastically reduced opportunities for surgical skill sharing between high-income and low to middle-income countries. Augmented reality (AR) technology allows mentors in one country to virtually train a mentee in another country during surgical cases without international travel. We hypothesize that AR technology is an effective live surgical training and mentorship modality.

Methods: Three senior urologic surgeons in the US and UK worked with four urologic surgeon trainees across the continent of Africa using AR systems. Trainers and trainees individually completed post-operative questionnaires evaluating their experience.

Results: Trainees rated the quality of virtual training as equivalent to in-person training in 83% of cases (N = 5 of 6 responses). Trainers reported the technology's visual quality as "acceptable" in 67% of cases (N = 12 of 18 responses). The audiovisual capabilities of the technology had a "high" impact in the majority of the cases.

Conclusion: AR technology can effectively facilitate surgical training when in-person training is limited or unavailable.

DOI

10.1016/j.amjsurg.2023.05.014

Publication Date

5-18-2023

Keywords

Augmented reality, Surgical technology, Surgical training, global surgery, global surgical partnerships

ISSN

1879-1883

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