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Faculty of Medical Sciences

Enhanced Training Devices for Laparoscopic Surgeons: Developing a laparoscopic simulator for the future

Alsem, Mark Pieter (2011) Enhanced Training Devices for Laparoscopic Surgeons: Developing a laparoscopic simulator for the future. thesis, Other studies (UMCG).

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Abstract

Introduction Since the beginning of the 90’s minimal invasive surgery (laparoscopic surgery) is more and more replacing traditional ‘open’ methods of surgery. This type of surgery has major advantages but requires different skills from surgeons than the traditional ‘open’ methods. Its introduction increased the number of incidents beyond that of ‘open’ surgery. One of the main causes is the lack of laparoscopic surgery training for surgeons and residents. The Skills Center of the University Medical Center Groningen is a training facility for surgeons and residents. It offers multiple simulators which can be used to train laparoscopic skills but they are hardly used by surgeons and residents. Preliminary research showed, amongst others, that simulators are not appealing, realistic and attractive enough to use. This led to the idea to build a entertaining and immersive simulator based on computer game technology and a commercially available game console. The research in this thesis had two main objectives: creating a product development process which included the involvement of users and creating a list of functional design parameters for this new simulator. Method and results For the simulator a tailored new product development process was made. It included five stages: idea generation and concept development; device design and concept development; prototype testing in-house and trials in real field; production; and device deployment in the market and user feedback. For every stage the user involvement methods were determined. Furthermore the process was iterative meaning the design team goes back and forth through the New Product Development stages. By consistently involving users throughout the process it could be checked whether the results comply with the user needs. The first step of the design process was to come up with a list of functional design parameters. The two activities that were performed during this first stage were: identifying customer needs and translating these customer needs into functional design parameters. By means of unstructured interviews with fourteen medical professionals a list of hundred twenty raw user needs were made. The needs needed to be prioritized to be able to make trade-offs during the design process. These needs were categorized and prioritized by means of a focus group of medical professionals. The next step was for the researcher to translate these needs into functional design parameters for the simulator. Conclusion The process resulted in a list of twenty-four functional parameters with a relative importance for every parameter. Two main conclusions could be drawn from this list. Firstly the basic function of the simulator should be training basic surgical skills with replica laparoscopic instruments. This function was on top of the list of functional parameters and differed significantly from the rest of the list. Secondly there were five other parameters which were seen as most important for the simulator. These five parameters are: limited movement area for controllers; high enjoyment of play; freedom of choices during the game (sandbox style game); multiple players; and competition elements. These parameters must be used in the next step of the design process to develop concepts for the simulator. Furthermore these parameters can be used when trade-offs have to be made during the design process.

Item Type: Thesis (Thesis)
Supervisor name: Cate Hoedemaker, drs. H.O. ten
Supervisor name: Kuijpers, prof. dr. ir. F.P.J. and Hillen, assoc. prof. dr. ir. M.W.
Faculty: Economics and Business
Keywords: Laparoscopie, Operatieve Technieken, Chirurgen, Vaardigheden, Training, Simulator
Date Deposited: 25 Jun 2020 10:54
Last Modified: 25 Jun 2020 10:54
URI: https://umcg.studenttheses.ub.rug.nl/id/eprint/1495

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