Does monitor position influence visual-motor performance during minimally invasive surgery?

Virtual and augmented reality in dental education: The good, the bad and the better

INTRODUCTION

Virtual reality and augmented reality (VR/AR) are becoming established technologies with a wide range of possibilities in various academic fields, including dentistry. The practice of dentistry encompasses a spectrum of skills and knowledge of anatomy, complex technical and clinical skills and sound academic understanding. This review aims to scope the current use of these technologies in dental education, explore their impact on teaching and learning and envisage their potential in this field.

MATERIALS AND METHODS

The Cochrane Library, PubMed and EMBASE were searched. Cochrane Handbook was used to conduct this systematic review. Inclusion and exclusion criteria were applied; randomised control trials published in English in the last 10 years (2010-2020) were considered and screened independently by two authors.

RESULTS

Fourteen of 524 studies were included and assessed. The majority of articles describing the use of VR/AR focused on an Undergraduate/General Dental Practitioner audience. Its use in Oral and Maxillofacial Surgery, Endodontics and Restorative dentistry was also described. There is evidence of motor skill acquisition using these systems which is comparative to that of traditional methods.

CONCLUSION

The use of VR/AR is well established in dental education; most applications relate to undergraduate education as a useful adjunct to dental training. In this article, the breadth of learning in dental education using VR/AR was exploited providing an overview to aid dental education. VR/AR is a useful adjunct to conventional learning in dentistry. However, there are limitations preventing VR/AR widespread use and applications, such as lack of trials, standardisation and accreditation of systems/content.

Exploring the Presence of Core Skills for Surgical Practice Through Simulation

OBJECTIVE

The ability to simulate procedures in silico has transformed surgical training and practice. Today's simulators, designed for the training of a highly specialized set of procedures, also present a powerful scientific tool for understanding the neural control processes that underpin the learning and application of surgical skills. Here, we examined whether 2 simulators designed for training in 2 different surgical domains could be used to examine the extent to which fundamental sensorimotor skills transcend surgical specialty.

DESIGN, SETTING & PARTICIPANTS

We used a high-fidelity virtual reality dental simulator and a laparoscopic box simulator to record the performance of 3 different groups. The groups comprised dentists, laparoscopic surgeons, and psychologists (each group n = 19).

RESULTS

The results revealed a specialization of performance, with laparoscopic surgeons showing the highest performance on the laparoscopic box simulator, while dentists demonstrated the highest skill levels on the virtual reality dental simulator. Importantly, we also found that a transfer learning effect, with laparoscopic surgeons and dentists showing superior performance to the psychologists on both tasks.

CONCLUSIONS

There are core sensorimotor skills that cut across surgical specialty. We propose that the identification of such fundamental skills could lead to improved training provision prior to specialization.

Looking forward to safer HGVs: The impact of mirrors on driver reaction times

Heavy Goods Vehicle (HGV) collisions are responsible for a disproportionate number of urban vulnerable road user casualties (VRU - cyclists and pedestrians). Blind-spots to the front and side of HGVs can make it difficult (sometimes impossible) to detect close proximity VRUs and may be the cause of some collisions. The current solution to this problem is to provide additional mirrors that can allow the driver to see into the blind-spots. However, keeping track of many mirrors requires frequent off-road glances which can be difficult to execute during demanding driving situations. One suggestion is that driving safety could be improved by redesigning cabs in order to reduce/remove blind-spot regions, with the aim of reducing the need for mirrors, and increasing detection rates (and thereby reducing collisions). To examine whether mirrors delay driver responses we created a series of simulated driving tasks and tested regular car drivers and expert HGV drivers. First we measured baseline reaction times to objects appearing when not driving ('Parked'). Participants then repeated the task whilst driving through a simulated town (primary driving tasks were steering, braking, and following directional signs): driving slowed reaction times to objects visible in mirrors but not to objects visible through the front windscreen. In a second experiment cognitive load was increased, this slowed RTs overall but did not alter the pattern of responses across windows and mirrors. Crucially, we demonstrate that the distribution of mirror RTs can be captured simply by the mirror's spatial position (eccentricity). These findings provide robust evidence that drivers are slower reacting to objects only visible in eccentric mirrors compared to direct viewing through the front windscreen.