Making surgical education intuitive: A surgical robotics primer for pre-clinical medical students

Background

As robotic surgeries increase nationwide, residency programs are implementing commensurate curriculum. Medical student exposure and comfort with these surgeries, however, is lagging. This program sought to improve student interest and confidence through additional robotic exposure.

Methods

A two-part educational program was implemented at an academic institution. Part-one included a surgeon-led lecture and part-two a hands-on robotics primer where students were exposed to 3-D anatomy and instrumentation via robotic console. Data was collected via RedCap and analyzed for significance (p ​< ​0.05).

Results

Thirty-two students participated in part one, ten of which were selected for part two. The majority (82 ​%) reported being interested or very interested in pursuing additional robotic experiences and 40 ​% reported improved confidence in actively assisting in a robotics case (p ​< ​0.005).

Conclusion

Conducting robotic exposure events improves medical students' confidence and interest in seeking future robotic surgery experiences. As robotic surgery expands, medical students have shown to benefit from earlier exposure.