• Koen W van Dongen, Gunnar Ahlberg, Luigi Bonavina, Fiona J Carter, Teodor P Grantcharov, Anders Hyltander, Marlies P Schijven, Alessandro Stefani, David C van der Zee, and Ivo A M J Broeders.
• University Medical Centre, Utrecht, The Netherlands.
• Surg Endosc. 2011 Jan 1;25(1):166-71.

BackgroundVirtual reality (VR) simulators have been demonstrated to improve basic psychomotor skills in endoscopic surgery. The exercise configuration settings used for validation in studies published so far are default settings or are based on the personal choice of the tutors. The purpose of this study was to establish consensus on exercise configurations and on a validated training program for a virtual reality simulator, based on the experience of international experts to set criterion levels to construct a proficiency-based training program.MethodsA consensus meeting was held with eight European teams, all extensively experienced in using the VR simulator. Construct validity of the training program was tested by 20 experts and 60 novices. The data were analyzed by using the t test for equality of means.ResultsConsensus was achieved on training designs, exercise configuration, and examination. Almost all exercises (7/8) showed construct validity. In total, 50 of 94 parameters (53%) showed significant difference.ConclusionsA European, multicenter, validated, training program was constructed according to the general consensus of a large international team with extended experience in virtual reality simulation. Therefore, a proficiency-based training program can be offered to training centers that use this simulator for training in basic psychomotor skills in endoscopic surgery.

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