Surgeons Who Play Video Games Are More Skilled
According to a study published in this month’s issue of Archives of Surgery, gamer surgeons were found to have superior capabilities when performing laparoscopic surgery.
Out of 33 surgeons from Beth Israel Medical Center in New York that participated in the study, the nine doctors who had at some point played video games at least three hours per week made 37 percent fewer errors, performed 27 percent faster, and scored 42 percent better in the test of surgical skills than the 15 surgeons who had never played video games before.
“It was surprising that past commercial video game play was such a strong predictor of advanced surgical skills,” said Iowa State University psychology professor Douglas Gentile, one of the study’s authors.
Forget checking out the diplomas on the wall, now you know what to ask your surgeon next time you’re in for a consultation: Do you play video games?
The study of course warns parents not to start training their future M.D.’s by sitting them in front of video games for hours at a time. For the moment, high scores in video games will not get you accepted into medical school.
Yet… ;)
Via | eWeek
3 opinions for Surgeons Who Play Video Games Are More Skilled
Kamyar
Feb 21, 2007 at 10:25 am
I wonder if the game they played was Trauma Center? ;)
Ingrid
Feb 21, 2007 at 11:31 pm
I think we’ve moved up from the days of training young doctors with ‘Operation’. ;)
Erin
Feb 25, 2007 at 5:16 am
I think the proper response to this study is…duh. For difficult to procure procedures and rare cases, today’s physicians are often trained in virtual environments. Physicians can practice and explore using real tools, but with the motions making virtual incisions in the on-screen patient. It’s really not that much different from video games.
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