Virtual-reality simulation to assess performance in hip fracture surgery

Figures & data

Demographics and procedure performances for novices and experienced surgeons on a virtual-reality hip-surgery simulator. Values are mean (SD)

	Novice (n = 10)	Experienced (n = 10)	p-value
Median age (range)	29 (26–39)	36 (30–58)
Sex (F/M)	5/5	0/10
Procedure 1 (Cannulated screws)
Fluoroscopy time in seconds	55 (50)	21 (10)	0.06
No. of radiographs	73 (61)	76 (22)	0.9
No. of retries in guide placement	0.4 ( 0.5)	1.3 (1.3)	0.07
Procedure time in seconds	429 ( 88)	434 (91)	0.9
Percentage of maximum (PM) score	34 (32)	74.3 (16)	0.002
Procedure 2 (Hansson pin)
Fluoroscopy time in seconds	44 (50)	19 (8)	0.1
No. of radiographs	79 (59)	75 (38)	0.9
No. of retries in guide placement	0.8 (1.0)	1.9 (2.3)	0.2
Procedure time in seconds	382 (116)	393 (128)	0.8
Percentage of maximum (PM) score	39 (35)	78 (9.8)	0.003
Procedure 3 (dynamic hip screw)
Fluoroscopy time in seconds	70 (100)	18 (14)	0.1
No. of radiographs	85 (48)	64 (23)	0.2
No. of retries in guide placement	1.1 (1.5)	1.5 (1.3)	0.5
Procedure time in seconds	501 (172)	377 (81)	0.05
Percentage of maximum (PM) score	18.4 (53)	75.3 (13)	0.008

Figure 1. Distribution of percentage of maximum (PM) score for novices and experienced surgeons. Using the contrasting-groups method, the pass/fail standard for the test was determined from the intersection of the distributions (58%).

Figure 2. Box-plot showing percentage of maximum score (PM score) for novices and experienced surgeons, respectively. The line illustrates the consequence of the pass/fail standard. None of the novices passed the test. One of the experienced surgeons also failed the test.