Endoscopy
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Randomized Controlled Trial Clinical Trial
Evaluation of a virtual endoscopy simulator for training in gastrointestinal endoscopy.
Skills in gastrointestinal endoscopy mainly depend on experience and practice. Training on endoscopy simulators may decrease the time needed to reach competency in endoscopy. The purpose of the study was to determine whether the GI-Mentor, a virtual reality endoscopy simulator, can distinguish between beginners and experts in endoscopy and to assess whether training improves the performance of beginners. ⋯ This virtual endoscopy simulator is capable of identifying differences between beginners and experts in gastrointestinal endoscopy. A 3-week training improves the performance of beginners significantly. This quite fast improvement in endoscopic skills certainly cannot be seen in clinical practice; no conclusions can be made about the impact of virtual simulator training on real-life endoscopy, and this must be evaluated.