Stand in surgeon’s shoes: virtual reality cross-training to enhance teamwork in surgery

Teamwork in surgery depends on a shared mental model of success, i.e., a common understanding of objectives in the operating room. A shared model leads to increased engagement among team members and is associated with fewer complications and overall better outcomes for patients. However, clinical training typically focuses on role-specific skills, leaving individuals to acquire a shared model indirectly through on-the-job experience.

We investigate whether virtual reality (VR) cross-training, i.elet@tokeneonedotexposure to other roles, can enhance a shared mental model for non-surgeons more directly. Our study focuses on X-ray guided pelvic trauma surgery, a procedure where successful communication depends on the shared model between the surgeon and a C-arm technologist. We present a VR environment supporting both roles and evaluate a cross-training curriculum in which non-surgeons swap roles with the surgeon.

Exposure to the surgical task resulted in higher engagement with the C-arm technologist role in VR, as measured by the mental demand and effort expended by participants ( \(p < 0.001\) $p<0.001$ ). It also has a significant effect on non-surgeon’s mental model of the overall task; novice participants’ estimation of the mental demand and effort required for the surgeon’s task increases after training, while their perception of overall performance decreases ( \(p < 0.05\) $p<0.05$ ), indicating a gap in understanding based solely on observation. This phenomenon was also present for a professional C-arm technologist.

Until now, VR applications for clinical training have focused on virtualizing existing curricula. We demonstrate how novel approaches which are not possible outside of a virtual environment, such as role swapping, may enhance the shared mental model of surgical teams by contextualizing each individual’s role within the overall task in a time- and cost-efficient manner. As workflows grow increasingly sophisticated, we see VR curricula as being able to directly foster a shared model for success, ultimately benefiting patient outcomes through more effective teamwork in surgery.