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Author Notes:

Aaron Rohr, Interventional Radiology Department, University of Kansas School of Medicine, 4000 Cambridge St, Kansas City, KS 66160, USA. Email: arohr@kumc.edu

All authors contributions are accounted for and represented appropriately.

The author(s) declared no potential conflicts of interest with respect to the research, authorship, and/or publication of this article.

Subject:

Research Funding:

The author(s) received no financial support for the research, authorship, and/or publication of this article.

Keywords:

  • Video Games
  • Interventional Radiology
  • Skill set

Do Video Games Predict an Early Advanced Capacity to Learn Interventional Radiology Skills?

Tools:

Journal Title:

Journal of Medical Education and Curricular Development

Volume:

Volume 8

Publisher:

Type of Work:

Article | Final Publisher PDF

Abstract:

Purpose: To elucidate the relationship between video game (VG) play and interventional radiology (IR) technical skills in medical students. Materials and Methods: Twenty medical students recruited at our institution’s IR symposium completed a survey to ascertain demographics and prior VG experience, then participated in a 3-part trial of skills assessing IR and VG skill and visuospatial aptitude (VSA). IR skill was evaluated via an endovascular simulation task, VG skill by performance on three separate VGs, and VSA using the Cube Comparison test. Regression analysis was tested the strength of relationship between IR skill and VG experience, VG skill, and VSA, respectively, and participants were stratified by IR skill to top and bottom halves for survey-response comparison. Results: There was no correlation between either VG skill or visuospatial aptitude and IR skill (r = −0.22, p = 0.35; and r = 0.14, p = 0.57). Greater number of years playing VGs correlated with superior IR skill (Spearman’s rho=-0.45, p<0.05). Students who selected IR as their specialty of interest had extensive VG experience, playing for > 15 years (n = 4, 80%), at least 10 hours per week at their peak (n = 3, 60%), and reported being either “skilled” or “highly skilled” at VGs (n = 3, 60%). Conclusions: In our study, though limited by power, number of years playing VGs correlated positively with IR skills in medical students. Prior VG experience may predict an early advanced capacity to learn IR skills and an interest in the specialty.

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© The Author(s) 2021

This is an Open Access work distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International License (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/).
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