Efficacy of Hand and Eye Coordination Exercises with Cleft Palate Surgical Simulator

The ultimate aim of this study was to evaluate surgical ambidexterity among oral and maxillofacial surgery residents after hand–eye coordination exercises on cleft palate surgical simulator.

This study was conducted on 29 residents of oral and maxillofacial surgery to evaluate their ambidexterity before and after hand–eye coordination (HEC) exercises. The participants were asked to place three simple interrupted sutures with their right and left hand on the cleft palate surgical simulator (CPSS) under the influence of a stopwatch before and after performing 3 HEC exercises namely holding gauze with chop sticks in both hands, trataka asana, balancing a ball on tennis racket with both hands for a period of 21 days. Each participant’s level of ambidexterity and HEC was assessed on Arduino based mirror

tracer model on day 1 and day 21.

The results show that the residents were able to place three simple interrupted sutures on the CPSS with the right and left hand more precisely and with less time taken post-HEC exercises (p < 0.001) when compared to pre-HEC exercises and less time was taken by the residents to place three simple interrupted sutures with right hand (p < 0.001) when compared to the left hand.

This study improved the surgical ambidexterity of oral and maxillofacial surgery residents before and after hand–eye coordination exercises on cleft palate surgical simulator.