Slashdot Mirror
Playing Video Games Makes For Better Surgeons
Steve Wallach writes "ABC News on line is reporting that surgeons that play video games at least three hours a week make 37% fewer mistakes in laparoscopic surgery and complete the surgery 27% faster than their non-video game playing colleagues. '"I use the same hand-eye coordination to play video games as I use for surgery," said Dr. James "Butch" Rosser, 49, who demonstrated the results of his study Tuesday at Beth Israel Medical Center.'"
Game playing doctors did however show a 25% increase in car-jacking, 14% increase in shooting incidents and 23% increase in slashing peoples throats with a knife.
They also had 46% fewer complaints than other doctors but this could be attributed to other factors. One patient saying...
"Would you complain to a guy who claims he is a crack shot with a railgun ?"
An Eye for an Eye will make the whole world blind - Gandhi
HAWKEYE PIERCE - Invincibility (on/off)
FLY - Float around (invoked by taking nitrous)
NOTARGET - Nurses don't see you (on/off)
KEVORKIAN - Cut your losses and move to the next patient
NOCLIP - Don't shave patient before incision
STELSEWHERE - Teleport to other hospital
GIVE S # - Gives you # retractors
GIVE N # - Gives you # nails
WALLETDRAIN - Remove contents of patient's bank account to pay for operation
IMPULSE 9 - Gives all knives and tools
Don't blame Durga. I voted for Centauri.
Some doctors sign their initials in marker next to the stitches after a surgery. That happened to me once and I was a little annoyed seeing it months later after removing my cast. I'd have been even more pissed if they signed "Ownt j00".
Frightened parent: Doctor? Our son... how is he?
Clooney: As you know, your son was hurt very badly in the accident. He lost a lot of blood and there was severe damage to his heart.
Frightened parent: Give it to me straight, doctor. How is he!
Clooney: PWNED!
---------
Tune in next week to see Dr. Clooney attempt to save Tess Trueheart's life when her heart stops.
Clooney: Charging to 500, ready... UUDDRLRLBABA!
I'm more concerned with the surgeons who gain their 27% speed increase from performing incisions using a chainsaw instead of a scalpel myself... On the otherhand, it certainly gets the job done for amputations: Bzzzzzt! "OK, my work here is done. Stitch that up for me please, nurse..."
UNIX? They're not even circumcised! Savages!
Wonder if this is related, but it might be that surgeons need practice at maintaining attention on something; like everyone else.
The more practice you get concentrating intensely on hand-eye coordination based activities, the better you get. Hey, I should know. I started out sucking rocks at Quake and ALL FPS, but kept on playing and and getting fragged and managed to figure out how to hold my own, just barely.
Just that since there aren't so many surgical procedures to practice on, playing games are a means of tuning the hand eye coordination. A friend of mine plays a lot of squash for the same reason (although he's pretty careful of his fingers and wrists)
> What life skills are learned through car-jackings ;)
> and running over of hookers from GTA?
You obviously don't live in New York.
John.
I finally made it through MYST
Somehow I made it through
Don't know how I did it
Broke a joystick or two
I was last in my class
Barely passsed at the institute
Now I'm trying to avoid, yah I'm trying to avoid
A malpractise suit
Hey, like a surgeon
Cuttin' for the very first time
Like a surgeon
Trained by playing DOOM, while online
Like a surgeon, hey
Cuttin' for the very first time
Like a surgeon
Here's a waiver for you to sign
Woe, woe, woe
Don't blame Durga. I voted for Centauri.
I can't count the number of times I got in trouble for talking back to my mother with that. She'd tell me to get off the video games, that it was a waste of my time, and I say that she was just going to watch some cheesy soap opera's anyway, which didn't do anything for her, while my video games were training my coordination and reaction time.
Now, at long last, I am proven correct.
IAAD, and here's the deal:
Laparoscopic surgery is done with instruments, but they are not usually "remote controlled." You may be confusing this procedure with remote-controlled robotic surgery.
The procedure goes like this:
Patient is put under anesthesia, and the surgeon chooses his port sites based on the procedure to be performed (gallbladder, etc). Once the patient is out, their belly is insuflated with carbon dioxide (gives the surgeon more room to work). There is a camera involved, but the surgeon actually uses long instruments that fit through the trochars he placed through the 2 or 3 holes he made in the abdominal wall. The instruments are simply long... they are not remote controlled.
If you've got the choice, Lap-surgery is preferable to a conventional "open" case... the recovery time is much less. If you've ever had surgery, you know how much it hurts to have your abdomen opened... little things like coughing hurt for weeks. That said, some things require speed, exposure, room to work, and are safer if done open... your complicated aortic aneurysm repair is better done open.
BTW, the surgeon will usually reserve the right to convert the procedure to an "open" case... if you have a heavily calicified gallbladder (a so-called "porcelian gallbladder") he may have to cut you open just to get it out... only so much fits through those little trochars.
Just FYI
Even if a man chops off your hand with a sword, you still have two nice, sharp bones to stick in his eyes.