The Impact of Immersive Virtual Reality Training in Thyroid Surgery

The Impact of Immersive Virtual Reality Training in Thyroid Surgery: A Prospective Randomized Controlled Trial

Up to this date, there have been no reports on virtual reality (VR) training in thyroid surgery. The purpose of this study is to determine the impact of VR training in residents' education.

Investigators intend to include general surgery residents in the trial, subgrouped in a VR training group and another one with traditional learning, utilizing a technical textbook as a control. For the purpose of this study, a commercial available VR mask will be given for training in the VR group. Randomization will be used to secure balance in the distribution of residents according to their experience. The task which will be examined include surgical steps from neck incision up to the placement of the C-IONM electrode and will be evaluated by a blinded FEBS certified endocrine surgeon in the operating theatre.

Training superiority will be assessed by the outcome measures of Objective Structured Assessment of Technical Skills (OSATS) score, need for the main surgeon to intervene (NTI), verbal answers and time to task completion. Participants will complete questionnaires regarding satisfaction of the whole educational process.

Inclusion Criteria:

• Residents of the 2nd Surgical Department of Aristotle University of Thessaloniki
• Residents who have completed their 1st year of training programm.

Exclusion Criteria:

• Disagreement of participants' randomisation
• Prolonged surgical time of completion
• Participant's experience beyond the included limits
• Participants who are completely incapable of using VR devices or have specific helath restrictions of using these
• Patients with complex thyroid disease such as recurrent disease, concominant primary hyperparathyroidism, lymph node disease or metastasis, Graves disease and intrathoracic goiter