New York — A recent study suggests a strong correlation between video game skills and skills needed to perform laparoscopic surgery, reports Reuters.
The study, conducted at Beth Israel Medical Center here and published in the February issue of Archives of Surgery, involved 33 surgeons. Of that total, nine who had at some point played video games at least three hours per week made 37 percent fewer errors, performed 27 percent faster, and scored 42 percent better in a test of surgical skills than the 15 surgeons who had never played video games.
According to the researchers, the study supports previous research suggesting that playing video games can improve fine motor skills, hand-eye coordination, visual attention, depth perception and computer competency — and that playing video games may be a practical teaching tool to help train surgeons.
