Hand motion patterns of Fundamentals of Laparoscopic Surgery certified and noncertified surgeons

BackgroundWith the increasing use of simulation in surgical training there is an increasing need for low cost methods of objective assessment.MethodsHand-motion data (3 degrees of freedom) were acquired using microelectromechanical gyroscope tracking devices worn on both hands during an intracorporeal suture/knot-tying laparoscopic task performed by FLS-certified and non-FLS-certified surgeons. Each data sample was processed into a symbolic time series, and the Lempel-Ziv complexity metric was calculated for each hand for the whole task and the first 60 seconds of the task from the dominant hand.ResultsFLS-certified surgeons had more complex hand-motion patterns. This was statistically significant only for the dominant hand (P = .02) but was still statistically significant when calculated from the first 60 seconds of the task (P = .04) and therefore independent of the total time taken to complete the task.ConclusionsHand-motion patterns were quantified and shown to be different between FLS-certified and non-FLS-certified surgeons using low-cost microelectromechanical technology and the Lempel-Ziv complexity metric.