A way to guarantee patient safety is to have competent surgeons, which will have to be perfectly able to use the new robotic systems. A specific, feasible and validated training for robotic laparoscopic surgery is of utmost importance. To reach this goal it is fundamental to know how the robotic and laparoscopic surgical training at present is done. In order to know the state-of-the-art of training in laparoscopy and robot-assisted laparoscopic surgery, the robotics laboratory Altair (Department of Computer Science, University of Verona, Italy) is conducting an international survey through an on-line questionnaire.  The goal of the proposed questionnaire is to understand how surgical training in laparoscopy and robotic-assisted laparoscopy is done, how surgical training proficiency in laparoscopy and robotic-assisted laparoscopy is evaluated, and what a new training method should improve.

In particular the aim of the research is to focus on training procedures which are recommended by practitioners actively working in the scientific and medical fields in order to:

-       Provide a classification of the surgical skills required for the completion of both simple tasks and complete surgical procedures in robotic surgery, strongly affected by the lack of haptic feedback;

-       identify significant similarities and discrepancies between instruments, evaluation methods, procedures and tasks applied to laparoscopic and robotic training programs;

-       collect expert opinions regarding the required enhancements of current robotic training emphasizing possible consequences and benefits for patient safety.

The proposed questionnaire is based on a systematic review of instruments, standards and criteria found in training curricula for open, laparoscopic and robotic surgeons. This review highlights many possible features proposed for training curricula which may be adapt to robotic surgery such as VR simulators, assessment methods, bench models, specific courses, etc.

This questionnaire is proposed to the most active clinicians and researches activelly involved in laparoscopic and robotic surgery.

The questionnaire is structured in three main parts: (a) personal characteristics; (b) training characteristics; (c) evaluation of training elements. The purpose of the “personal characteristic” part is to collect some personal data; in “training characteristics” the participant has to select what elements were used in his/her training, in order to evaluate them; “evaluate training elements” part is divided in two further parts, a part where the participant has to evaluate the training used elements, and a part where the participant has to evaluate what a new training approach has to improve

The data collected will only be disseminated in non-attributable form in strong adherence to the indications provided by the Data Protection and Privacy Code of Conduct arranged by the European Union for the funded projects. Participants can grant their permission to the publication of his/her name on the aknowledgment web page . Participation in this survey will not lead to any sale-related follow-up; no individual (or organization) will be identifiable from our reports without an explicit consent declaration.

The information provided by participants will constitute a fundamental contribution to the built and proposal of a new and dedicated training curriculum for robotic surgery and for the development of a new surgical simulator.

The completion of the questionnaire takes approximately 15 minutes. There are no further tasks involved.

To start the survey please write us at This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it and ask for your personal password. Then click on the link below and log in using the password you received.

http://metropolis.sci.univr.it/surgeons/

If you experience any problems in completing the questionnaire or have any questions please write us at: mailto: This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it . We appreciate any form of feedback.

If you know any person (student, researcher, colleague) you think could be interested in giving his/her contribution to the research, please let us know by writing at This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it indicating his/her e-mail address or any information we could use to contact him/her.

Prof. Claudio Bassi M.D.

European Hepato-Pancreatic Biliary Association Fellow

Department of Surgery, University of Verona

http://www.medicina.univr.it/fol/main?ent=persona&id=1152&lang=en

Prof. Paolo Fiorini, Ph.D.

IEEE Fellow

Department of Computer Science, University of Verona

http://profs.sci.univr.it/~fiorini

and the SAFROS team:

Marco Vicentini, Psychologist, Research Associate, University of Verona

Michele Scandola, Psychologist, Research Associate, University of Verona

Lorenza Gasperotti, SAFROS Collaborator, University of Padova