Validation of a video game made for training laparoscopic skills

Research has showed that there’s a positieve relation between playing video games and one’s key hole surgery (laparoscopic) skills. Not only do experienced gamers perform better, but unexperienced surgeons can even improve their skills by regularly playing video games.
Nevertheless, there are hardly any institutions that use video games for training. Instead, traditional (virtual reality) simulators are used. It is the UMCG’s experience that these simulators, which cost tens of thousands of euro’s, are hardly ever used. They require a lot of maintenance, are located too far from the workplac, and considered not interesting or even boring. This is why residents hardly ever practice on these simulators.
To intensify laparoscopic skills training in residents, the company Cutting Edge, a collaboration between the UMCG, LIMIS, and game developer Grendel Games, developed a video game for the Nintendo Wii U that trains these skills while the user is playing a game.
The game, called Underground, consists of two motion-sensitive Wii controllers in specially developed graspers, and specially developed software. The player uses two large robot arms to manipulatie the environment of a mine so that a number of smaller robots can safely pass through it. This is the first time ever that specially developed hard- and software are used for this goal. In this thesis, the video game is validated according to international standards.