Currently, there is no single standardized curriculum for using surgical robots, but students typically practice on a simulator, serve as bedside assistants on about 10 cases, and then work at a console with the help of the attending surgeon. move on to work. So far, the focus has been on simulator usage time. However, Murillo explains: “People are starting to realize that time may not be the best measure of proficiency in robotic surgery. We are looking for other factors that can be taught to help someone become truly proficient with a robot. I am.”
Furthermore, experts have doubts about the pros and cons of using surgical robots in education. Challenges include the involvement of medical students whose primary role is to watch from a console, “almost like watching a YouTube video or something,” Murillo said. The high cost of robots and issues with access to simulators are also limiting factors.
Still, there may be educational benefits to actually teaching robotic surgery.
“Robotic surgery can actually [education] It’s more equal because students can see exactly what the surgeon is seeing for the first time,” says Johannes Kratz, director of minimally invasive robotic thoracic surgery at the University of California, San Francisco. Otherwise, students may be looking from the opposite side of the patient or from an uncomfortable angle. The console gives students the same perspective as the lead surgeon.
Ashutosh Tewari, director of the Department of Urology and director of the Institute for Robotic Surgery at Mount Sinai, echoed these sentiments. “Students can learn better because they can finally see,” Tewari said.
Mr. Tewari performed the first robotic prostatectomy in 1999 (along with his mentor Professor Mani Menon) and has since completed over 9,000 robotic radical prostatectomies. This is a minimally invasive surgery in which a surgeon removes the prostate gland to treat prostate cancer. Tewari explained that for students in the residency program, their experience with robotic surgery begins on day one, and he even said he would like to bring this type of his 3D modeling to the anatomy lab for first-year medical students. I am.
“It’s all about technology beyond robots,” Tewari says of some of the projects his team is working on to enhance surgical education. Some of those projects include the possibility of using augmented reality to superimpose patient images from magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) onto surgical fields, and the use of AI to help medical students identify structures inside the body. It also includes things that make it look like this.
In some companies, OssoVRwants to create virtual reality glasses that can put students into a virtual operating room for training and practice without the high risks of operating on real patients.
Robotic surgery itself will continue to advance.Some originals available intuitive patent There will soon be a new surgical robot on the market that surpasses Intuitive’s Da Vinci, as it recently expired. This has the potential to reduce costs and improve access.
“There are certainly disparities in educational opportunities,” said Coker, a surgeon at Johns Hopkins University. She’s already heard from other program directors that they want to teach students robotic surgery safely, but medical schools and hospitals may not have access to expensive simulators that can cost anywhere from $500,000 to more than $2 million.
If a hospital chooses to switch tools, students may need to master a different robotic system. Just as the landscape of medical education today is markedly different than it was 20 years ago, tomorrow’s medical education may hold limitless technological possibilities.
“The new generation that is growing up is becoming more technologically proficient across the board, and some of them are willing to embrace it,” Coker said.
