![]() While that's not entirely translatable to real-world situations, you get granular information about what happened at a specific time. Were there complications? Re-admissions? Fundamental Surgery, however, provides data from each step of the procedure. It's also difficult to measure, as a human surgeon cannot accurate read exactly where their trainee is looking at any given time.įundamental Surgery tracks all of this information, offering data on the time taken to complete a procedure, whether the student focused on the correct areas, the amount of guidance-in the form of digital overlays-that was needed, and more.įundamentalVR stores an anonymized version of this data, which includes results from doctors at a range of skill levels, not just students, which could be used to detect trends.Īt the moment, most of the data gathered about surgeries focuses on the outcome. ![]() It goes without saying that a surgeon has to be focused, but training your eyes to look at one specific area for what could be hours at a time, without distraction, is challenging. That said, other studies argue that "haptic feedback provides the greatest benefit to surgical novices in the early stages of their training." FundamentalVR's Total Hip Replacement (Posterior Approach) simulation was recently accredited by the Royal College of Surgeons in the UK, giving students six out of 50 Continuing Professional Development ( CPD) points (equivalent to CME points in the US) a surgeon must maintain each year. One study found that "poor mechanical performance of the simulated haptic feedback is believed to have resulted in a negative training effect," and researchers say there might be an " uncanny valley" of sensations. ![]() Haptic feedback systems have their critics. In the real world, you wouldn't be able to practice that again and again in the virtual world, it's a simple matter of reloading the program. Holding up the "saw" to the headset, you can even see a translucent veneer of blood. Much like you might "feel" turbulence if you practice flying a plane, haptics push back against your movements when sawing through bone to simulate density, but they'll quickly relent when they calculate that you've cut enough. CEO Richard Vincent describes this as a flight simulator for surgeons. In Fundamental Surgery, students go through the same steps they would if they were practicing on a cadaver, but with green highlighted areas showing them the correct way to use the equipment and physical feedback when they touch bone or skin. Visual information, like an X-Ray, is vital too, but that's precious extra time, not to mention exposure to radiation, which should be avoided if possible. When using a surgical reamer to grind away bones in knee, it's a tactile sensation that helps guide the surgeon. ![]() When putting screws into a spinal cord, it is essential they enter from exactly the right angle. One of the most vital skills a surgeon has is muscle memory. It's not just cost that makes Fundamental Surgery such an attractive prospect it's the fact that students can go through the motions over and over and over at no additional cost. The technology has already been adopted by the Mayo Clinic, UCLA, and NYU in the US, UCLH and St George's Hospital in the UK, and Sana in Germany. The entire array can be purchased for around $6,000, and while that might be expensive to the average consumer, it's a huge saving in the medical profession. This gives surgeons in training a more realistic approximation of how it feels to cut skin or scrape away bones. But it can provide resistance, too, to simulate the differences between skin, ridged metal, rubber, and numerous other materials and textures. Each stylus can rotate, twist, and has a few inches of movement around the hub. ![]() It looks like two styluses attached to a semi-circular hub. Best Hosted Endpoint Protection and Security SoftwareįundamentalVR, founded in 2012, has been developing its Fundamental Surgery VR software for four years, building on the success of products such as the Oculus Rift and the HTC Vive, which have made virtual reality affordable and accessible.Īlongside the headset is a haptic device that gives physical feedback, like the vibrating keypad on your smartphone. ![]()
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