A Comprehensive Review on Creating Curricula to Teach Robotic Surgery (Term Paper Sample)

A Comprehensive Review on Creating Curricula to Teach Robotic Surgery Student’s Name: Institution: Course: Due Date: Abstract Since 2017, robotic-assisted surgery has significantly grown, enabling surgeons to overcome weaknesses interrelated to traditional laparoscopic surgery. Therefore, the high growth of robotic-assisted surgery has necessitated the development of a curriculum that will support effective learning of this technology. Although different curricula have been developed and validated over the years, researchers have different views on their effectiveness; some of them reveal that some are better than others. This review aims to highlight and discuss numerous curricula that have been developed to teach robotic-assisted surgery. In understanding the creation of curricula that can be used to teach robotic surgery, comprehensive searches of literature materials from PubMed, MEDLINE and Embase were conducted. After the investigation, research articles on robotic surgery curricula published in English from 2014 to 2022 were located and used. Based on the research materials, it was established that creating and implementing a standard curriculum incorporating simulation training, mentorship, didactic lessons, and hands-on practice is one of the best when applied in robotic surgery training. This is because it shows significant improvement in didactic, cognitive, psychomotor, and communication skills when implemented. Besides, the results indicated that other curriculum programs such as da Vinci® Technology Training Pathway and FRS are crucial in creating a curriculum to teach robotic surgery since they influence procedure-specific skills and knowledge, including but not limited to instrumentation, patient selection, system and patient positioning, pre-operational operation, procedural steps, port placement, management, and complications. Therefore, this shows that to achieve the most effective training curricula for robot surgery, it is vital to combine several teaching methods for surgeons to achieve great expertise. Introduction Over the last decade, technology in robotic surgery has significantly grown. Chen. et al. (1) have revealed this by demonstrating that robotic-assisted surgery use has reached nearly 600,000 cases per year in the previous decade. Khajuria (2) indicates that one of the great reasons robotic surgery has grown exponentially is its power to enable surgeons to overcome disadvantages related to traditional laparoscopic surgery. On the other hand, Rivero-Moreno et al. (3) state that robotic surgery achieves more surgical outcomes, including reduced surgical complications and blood loss and improved precision and dexterity in surgeries. Mustafa et al. (4) state that with the high growth of robotic surgery, a great need for training has grown, but some training programs lack proper integration of invasive education. Thus, this has necessitated the creation of training curricula to prepare surgeons for the 21st-century operating room. (5, 6) Various researchers have conducted different studies on creating curricula to teach robotic surgery and have come up with diverse findings, which will be reviewed in this paper. Methods and Materials An extensive online search of literature materials from PubMed, MEDLINE and Embase was conducted to get relevant materials focusing on training curricula for robotic surgery. All the literature materials used for the review were those published in English from 2014 to 2022. Several keywords were used to locate them, which included “curriculum”, “robotic-assisted surgery”, “robotic surgery training”, and “creating a curriculum”. The review did not involve human subjects, making institutional review board approval unnecessary. After the search of the literature materials, a total of 1589 articles was achieved. However, 735 were duplicates, which led to their removal. The 854 remaining articles were screened using their titles and abstracts to obtain the most eligible articles, which resulted in the removal of 388 articles. The second screening was done, and articles that did not have aspects of robotic surgery, training, curriculum and education were excluded, leading to the removal of 440 articles. Hence, the final total of studies used was 26, focusing on training modalities such as wet lab simulations, standard mixed training approaches and curriculum frameworks. Training Curriculum Standardized Mixed-Method Curriculum A study by Moit et al. (7) aimed to investigate the training curriculum used at the University Of Illinois College Of Medicine revealed that it is divided into two phases. The first phase involves completing four complete robotic surgery training, practice, and stimulation modules and reading two assigned articles. In contrast, the second phase involves refreshing training modules for six months, taking a minimum of four bedsides to assist robotic procedures and a minimum of ten console surgeon procedures with two different surgeons. (7) Also, the investigation noted that a standardized mixed-method curriculum incorporating simulation training, mentorship, didactic lessons, and hands-on practice is one of the best when applied in robotic surgery training. These results are similar to Tom et al.'s which state that there is a great need to adopt a standardized training curriculum in robotic surgery among resident surgeons. (8) These findings find tremendous support from the work of Collins et al., (9) which indicates that implementing a standardized curriculum in training robotic surgery is one of the best steps that can be helpful in the medical field. These authors give credible evidence by indicating that all the learners in the study implementing the standard curriculum significantly improved their didactic, cognitive, psychomotor, and communication skills. (9) Equally, research conducted by Mustafa et al., (4) investigating the implementation of a robotic curriculum that integrates simulation training, hands-on practice, and didactic methods is crucial in enhancing invasive surgical training. The study using literature materials from 2013 and 2017 makes the findings more credible since they allow the researchers to analyze 739 cases, which were used to assess the importance of a robotic curriculum in improving minimally invasive surgical training. (4) Likewise, Azadi et al., (10) indicated that creating a curriculum that integrates intraoperative teaching, simulation, and didactic learning would be critical in enhancing robotic surgery skills. While these scholars reveal that creating a curriculum that integrates all these aspects is crucial, another research by Veronesi et al. (11) indicates that the curriculum must be divided into clear sections to enhance its success. The authors argue that dividing the curricula into sections allows the creation of base evaluation to integrate e-learning and simulation-based training. (11) Additionally, the scholars reveal that besides creating curricula that have clearly divided sections, they must factor in training centers because they are crucial in determining the development of competencies. Also, Chowriappa et al., (12) state that while creating a robotic-assisted or robotic surgery curriculum, it is vital to incorporate urethrovesical anastomosis (UVA) and augmented reality (AR) elements. This is because they improve the learning environment, leading to higher acquisition of technical skills. Furthermore, Stockheim et al. (13) state that while creating a robotic surgery curriculum, it is vital to employ the robotic curriculum for young surgeons” (RoCS) tool. This is due to the tool's ability to provide basic training while providing support at the operating table during robotic-assisted procedures. Web-Based Robotic Surgery Curriculum Other scholars give different tools and types of curricula that need to be implemented in robotic surgery training. For instance, Chen et al. (1) state that a web-based robotic surgery curriculum offers many learning modalities to enhance basic robotic-assisted surgery training. This curriculum provides residency training by balancing educational training and patient care and placing high demand on the schedule of residents. (10) As a result, assigning extra training time for all surgical residents within the residency training curriculum can be challenging. (14) This is because the accessibility to an online-based robotic surgery curriculum gives trainees the opportunity and freedom to schedule and allocate time to learn, enhancing their efficiency for trainees to gain requisite skills and knowledge in robotic-assisted surgery. Chen et al. (1) contend that web-based robotic surgery didactic curricula are integral in developing and dissipating fundamental knowledge. Research by Moawad et al. (15) further reveals that da Vinci Technology Training Pathway and FRS are replete with full-length procedures and learning module videos that underscore the impartation of learners with general knowledge and skills such as device limitations, fundamental troubleshooting of technical tissues, and device function. The didactics in the online curriculum significantly influence procedure-specific skills and knowledge, including but not limited to instrumentation, patient selection, system and patient positioning, pre-operational operation, procedural steps, port placement, management, and complications. (15,16) Pelletier et al., (17) further understand that a web-based robotic surgery curriculum provides basic and critical knowledge and information for procedures during post-operative, intraoperative, and pre-operative stages of patient care. Simulation-Based Training Bresler et al., (18) contend that simulation-based training is an integral facet of robotic surgery because it trains surgeons to adapt to working the multisensory and immersive tasks at the console from their traditional jobs. Besides, simulation-based training i...