Surgeons who have regularly played video games perform better at certain medical procedures than those who haven’t, according to a study in the American Medical Association’s Archives of Surgery.
Doctors who in the past played video games more than three hours a week made 37 percent fewer errors and were 27 percent faster on simulated surgery drills than those who hadn’t played regularly, researchers at Beth Israel Medical Center in New York City said in the study of 33 residents and attending physicians. Current gamers made 32 percent fewer errors and were 24 percent faster, the researchers said.
Video-game skills may predict success in laparoscopic surgeries, which are performed using cameras and thin instruments inserted through smaller incisions than those used in traditional surgery, the researchers said.
The research group, led by Beth Israel’s James Rosser, suggested incorporating video games into physician training and using them to recruit youths into surgery careers.
The findings are limited by the small number of physicians who were studied and the fact that the authors didn’t identify the age range during which video-game use might enhance surgery skills, Myriam Curet, director of the minimally invasive surgery program at Stanford University, said in a commentary accompanying the study.
