Years of experience is more effective in defining experts in the gaze analysis of laparoscopic suturing task than task duration

Yoshitaka Maeda; Kosuke Oiwa; Shiro Matsumoto; Akio Nozawa; Hiroshi Kawahira

doi:10.1016/j.apergo.2021.103474

Years of experience is more effective in defining experts in the gaze analysis of laparoscopic suturing task than task duration

Appl Ergon. 2021 Oct:96:103474. doi: 10.1016/j.apergo.2021.103474. Epub 2021 Jun 5.

Authors

Yoshitaka Maeda¹, Kosuke Oiwa², Shiro Matsumoto³, Akio Nozawa⁴, Hiroshi Kawahira⁵

Affiliations

¹ Medical Simulation Center, Jichi Medical University, 3311-1, Yakushiji, Shimotsuke-shi, Tochigi, 329-0498, Japan. Electronic address: y-maeda@jichi.ac.jp.
² Department of Electrical Engineering and Electronics, Aoyama Gakuin University, 5-10-1 Fuchinobe, Chuo-ku, Sagamihara-shi, Kanagawa, 252-5258, Japan. Electronic address: oiwa@ee.aoyama.ac.jp.
³ The Departments of Surgery, Jichi Medical University, 3311-1, Yakushiji, Shimotsuke-shi, Tochigi, 329-0498, Japan. Electronic address: s-matsumoto@jichi.ac.jp.
⁴ Department of Electrical Engineering and Electronics, Aoyama Gakuin University, 5-10-1 Fuchinobe, Chuo-ku, Sagamihara-shi, Kanagawa, 252-5258, Japan. Electronic address: akio@ee.aoyama.ac.jp.
⁵ Medical Simulation Center, Jichi Medical University, 3311-1, Yakushiji, Shimotsuke-shi, Tochigi, 329-0498, Japan. Electronic address: kawahira@jichi.ac.jp.

PMID: 34098406
DOI: 10.1016/j.apergo.2021.103474

Abstract

In this study, the relationship between gaze patterns, task duration, and years of experience, which are commonly used to define and evaluate expert surgeons in laparoscopic surgery, was identified. Ten surgeons with 1-28 years of experience and six inexperienced students were included. Subjects used forceps to repeat the task of suturing a suture pad. Each subject wore an eye-marking recorder, and gaze points were recorded and analyzed. No significant relationship between task duration and gaze pattern was observed. However, there was a significant relationship between a surgeon's years of experience and the percentage of time spent gazing at the forceps. Subjects with more years of experience operated without looking at the forceps and fixed their gaze on the operational target. Therefore, when analyzing laparoscopic gazing patterns, it may be more appropriate to define an "expert" based on the years of experience rather than task duration.

Keywords: Definition of expert; Gaze patterns; Laparoscopic surgery.

MeSH terms

Clinical Competence
Humans
Laparoscopy*
Surgeons*
Sutures
Task Performance and Analysis