David A. Diaz Voss Varela

Technical skills improve after practice on virtual‐reality temporal bone simulator

To assess whether practice on a virtual‐reality (VR) temporal bone simulator improves acquisition of technical skills in mastoid surgery.

Face and Content Validation of a Virtual Reality Temporal Bone Simulator

Objective. To validate the VOXEL-MAN TempoSurg simulator for temporal bone dissection. Study Design. Prospective international study. Setting. Otolaryngology departments of 2 academic health care institutions in the United Kingdom and United States. Subjects and Methods. Eighty-five subjects were recruited consisting of an experienced and referent group. Participants performed a standardized familiarization session and temporal bone dissection task. Realism, training effectiveness, and global impressions were evaluated across 21 domains using a 5-point Likert-type scale. A score of 4 was the minimum threshold for acceptability. Results. The experienced group comprised 25 otolaryngology trainers who had performed 150 mastoid operations. The referent group comprised 60 trainees (mean otolaryngology experience of 2.9 years). Familiarization took longer in the experienced group (P = .01). User-friendliness was positively rated (mean score 4.1). Seventy percent of participants rated anatomical appearance as acceptable. Trainers rated drill ergonomics worse than did trainees (P = .01). Simulation temporal bone training scored highly (mean score 4.3). Surgical anatomy, drill navigation, and hand-eye coordination accounted for this. Trainees were more likely to recommend temporal bone simulation to a colleague than were trainers (P = .01). Transferability of skills to the operating room was undecided (mean score 3.5). Conclusion. Realism of the VOXEL-MAN virtual reality temporal bone simulator is suboptimal in its current version. Nonetheless, it represents a useful adjunct to existing training methods and is particularly beneficial for novice surgeons before performing cadaveric temporal bone dissection. Improvements in realism, specifically drill ergonomics and visual-spatial perception during deeper temporal bone dissection, are warranted.

Achievement of competency in endoscopic sinus surgery of otolaryngology residents

The goal of our study is to identify the number of Endoscopic Sinus Surgery (ESS) cases required to obtain competency in ESS, using a previously validated assessment tool.

Determinants of resident competence in mastoidectomy: Role of interest and deliberate practice

This study explores the influence of selected factors on achievement of competency in mastoid surgery.

Learning styles in otolaryngology fellowships

Previous studies have identified a predominant learning style in trainees from different specialties, more recently in otolaryngology residents. The purpose of our study was to determine a predominant learning style within otolaryngology fellowships and to identify any differences between otolaryngology fellows and residents.

The timely completion of objective assessment tools for evaluation of technical skills

To this date the effect of the time taken to complete an evaluation on the psychometric properties of the instrument has not been reported. The goal of our study was to assess the effect of time taken to complete an evaluation on its validity.