To be a good surgeon... it's a good idea to play some sort of video game

A quick PubMed search reveals there are at least 53 publications relating to the topic of video games and surgical skill development.

In a very recent review article (Lynch et al, 2010) 12 research papers were discovered relating to different kinds of keyhole and robotic surgery on different parts of the body.  The findings from all of these papers were analysed and it was found that there was a link between gaming and increased performance in keyhole but not robotic surgery. The increased performance was only seen in basic tasks. For more complex tasks and in robotic surgery the most important factor was experience of the specific surgical technique. All of the studies involved very small numbers of people and short periods of game play (between 2 and 5 weeks) and more subtle differences may not have been seen, differences that were seen may have been exaggerated and the effect of long term gaming (years) or gaming in childhood cannot be examined.

It must be noted however that there is much more to being a good surgeon than being good with your hands. Surgery, like all medical specialisms, is a team sport. Communication skills within that team, both in theatre and in follow up is vitally important to patient outcome. So is good clinical knowledge and judgement.

References
Lynch, J., Aughwane, P. & Hammond, T. M. (2010) Video games and surgical ability: a literature review. Journal of Surgical Education, 67 (3), 184-189. 

Milo Wars 2

Apologies for the lateness of this post. I have been snowed under with coursework recently.

The last post sparked outrage in the blogosphere heated debate amongst people that read and follow my blog. For many people this was an emotive issue, mispronouncing the name of a hot drink they have known and loved from childhood. At first among the people I had asked there seemed to be a north/south divide - the divide being the equator. Those in the north (from Ghana and Nigeria and the UK) seemed to favour 'Millow' pronounciation, and those from the south (from Zambia, Zimbawe, South Africa and New Zealand) favouring My-lo.

The poll results say it all, after all the shouting intensely emotional discussion the consensus is split cleanly down the middle, 11 votes for Millow and 11 for My-lo. (I have ignored the accusations of cheating here)

However, as other countries joined in the debate for the My-lo cause namely Jamaica and Sri Lanka, it seemed to turn into a West Africa (Millow) vs the rest of the world (Mylo) debate. (I personally think that we can handle those odds). I would like to thank my Sri Lankan friend Jehan, who did the YouTube research that gave me the videos below.

 

So I guess we will all have to make up our minds on this one.

(Hint hint - it's Millow)

Milo: The Great Pronunciation Debate

You say to-mah-to, I say to-may-to, right? Apparently you can have either way right? It doesn't matter right? Wrong! Well, it's wrong when it comes to this  famous energy food drink.

I've noticed recently that my Southern African friends pronounce it as 'My-lo' like it's a name, whereas my friends above the equator and particularly in West Africa pronounce it as 'Millow' (like it rhymes with willow).

My opinion - you can't drink a person. I was raised on 'Millow'. Am I right? Comment below or use the poll to the right.

Pimsleur Twi Review

As you know over the last few months I have been attempting to learn Twi, an Akan language of Ghana, where I am originally from. To do this I bought a Twi-English dictionary and the Pimsleur Twi Audio CD set. Here are my thoughts on it.

The Pimsleur Twi Audio course is a 10 lesson audio course with a short accompanying reading booklet. Each audio lesson is about 20-25 minutes long and the course is designed for you to complete one lesson a day, everyday if possible. Reading lessons are much shorter (2 – 5 minutes) and are separate from the main audio part. The reading lessons took place roughly every other day. The material covered included basic that you would encounter as a tourist in Ghana e.g.: introducing yourself, asking for directions, and buying food and drink etc.

I have to say that this is the first ever teach-yourself-a-language course that I have ever managed to complete. Usually I get bored or find the language too difficult to learn and give up.  The Pimsleur course was actually engaging and enjoyable. It also went at a pace that was easy to follow. It may have helped that I was already a bit familiar with the language. However there were days that I did have to repeat because I struggled with the lesson the first time round.

Let’s play the Plagiarism Game: the cite is right!

My university have an incredibly boring plagiarism lecture every year for which attendance is compulsory. A register is taken. During the lecture we have to complete exercises where we look for evidence of plagiarism in (supposedly) real submitted pieces of work. At the end of the torture we have a quiz (oh joy!) that you have to pass. It is two hours of your life you are never going to get back.

So during this last torture session I had an idea for fresh new delivery of the material.

Introducing (drum roll please)…‘The Plagiarism Game: the cite is right!’

You play the character Student [insert your name here] as you struggle through the perilous terrain of coursework-land battling the evil plagiarising creatures therein. The twin demons of ‘copy and paste’ shall fall before your sword of citation and your quiver of quotation marks. Beware the deceptive mist of’ just-rearranging-the-words’ though that will confuse your avatar and deplete your timeline more quickly. Traverse or avoid the murky swamp of ‘misinterpreting-common-knowledge'. And finally battle the most difficult enemy of all the shadow avatar of self-plagiarism’. It knows all your tricks, all your moves. How will you fare? With your arsenal of appropriately sourced references nothing should stop you from attaining your goal of a publication in a prestigious scientific or medical journal however you must get through the game first.

Let’s be honest though, this would only really appeal to people who would be into games though. Oops! I forgot what field I’m in.

There may already be an app for that.

To be a good surgeon...you must play 'Call Of Duty'?

Apparently doctors that end up being surgeons are more likely to be male and play video games. Particularly with keyhole surgery, playing video games can apparently help to build the brain's ability to integrate and understand a 2D image on a screen and how it relates to a 3D response with the hands and fingertips. That's not even mentioning the manual dexterity it helps with.

I'm not sure if there are studies to confirm this idea, but in my opinion, it might also help with getting used to seeing blood, guts and gore on screen.

Being more of a Nitendo Wii girl myself, does that mean I should abandon any dreams I may or may not have of becoming the world's greatest brain/heart/any-kind-of surgeon just because I'm not addicted to 'Call Of Duty' or other console games? The fact is I'm just not very into gaming as a past time although from time to time (mainly when I supposed to be revising) I do become engrossed in the sims.

Is that just me? Or is that a female predicament? I haven't done any rigorous investigation into the topic but from anecdotal evidence it seems that more men than women play video games? I know for a fact that the games industry has a 96% male workforce. Maybe they are just not designing games I want to play? Or maybe the games that I would play won't sell? Or maybe I'm just not interested in gaming as a pastime?

There are many questions. And many possible answers. (Sounds like something for some bright medical student to go and research)

Just as a closing thought, there's often another person in the operating room who has to hold the camera during keyhole procedures. That person is often a more junior doctor or at times a medical student. Now you may think that holding a camera is an easy compared to the difficult job of doing a whole surgery inside a tiny space. However I can personally say that it is in fact quite tiring doing it for hours on end without moving or changing position much. My question is: does doing an activity like yoga, which strengthens core muscles, help with doing this task? Or does the ability to enter a zen-like trance at will help make the hours fly by? Who does more yoga men or women? Could this mean that women are more suited to assistant type roles?

Very controversial I know.

Either way, I think it raises lots more questions.

Brave

I sometimes wonder why I write this. Or why I write anything.

I like to think that I have something meaningful to say. Something worth listening to. Something worth reading. But the thing is I don’t tell people about my writing or indeed that I write at all. Very few people know about this blog or my stories or poems. And to be completely honest, I am loath to tell them. I’m not very good at self-promotion. I’d rather be discovered by chance. A happy accident.

I envy people who are brave. Brave enough to show the world what they are made of. What they think, feel and believe.  To expose themselves to the potential ridicule of others and take the risk anyway.

Right now, I’m not even brave enough to put words to a blank page.

I wonder where did my courage go?

I have a story!

I have a story in the pipelines! *Squeal of excitement!* (Me, not you….although you can squeal too if you are excited for me) It’s a short story. My self-imposed deadline for it is 30^th September 2010.  Please hold me accountable. Thank you.

Escape to the Country

It’s (still!) the summer holidays and I am surrounded by – drowning in - daytime television. Has anyone watched this show before? I think it’s about a couple or a family that want to move from the city to the countryside so they go a look at properties (correct me if I’m wrong).  As a born and bred city girl, I have always thought that there’s just nothing to do there.

I will freely admit that I was wrong.

Fields. Trees. Greenery. Fresh air. It all suddenly hits me like a freight train when I leave the hustle and bustle of the city behind. The contrast is more dramatic on a train journey but I suppose on some level this is what the old motorway holidays were like. Exciting, romantic, and thrilling. *cough cough* My lungs aren’t used to this level of cleanliness. There are houses surrounded by empty space. Everything is just so spaced out. It’s amazing. The city is a bubble. Sometimes it’s hard to think there’s anything else outside of it. Sometimes it’s a bit claustrophobic. I can see why people escape. I might try it sometime.

Reunions

Reunions are great. Last week I met up with my friends from my sixth form. It’s fun to catch up with them and find out what’s going on in everyone’s lives. We get to celebrate each other’s achievements and rejoice in their successes. Since leaving school in 2006 most of them have been to university and graduated. It’s just me and the rest of the medics left now (and of course those who didn’t go to university).

There’s one caveat to the trip on the memory train. If you’re anything like me while everyone is talking and laughing (and spilling their Starbucks coffee) a part of your mind will wonder ‘what have you managed to do with the last four years?’ or more specifically ‘X has done something amazing! You have done nothing. You suck.’ I should really use those moments to spur me to do something that can at least become future anecdote in conversation. But I don’t.  Well sometimes I do, but mostly I don’t.

And then my mind snaps back – where was I, oh yes. Celebrating achievements, rejoicing success…lamenting my own seemingly miserable life.

And yes I know I know, a lot of people in the world have it much worse than I do. I know I know, I shouldn’t compare myself to other people. But come on everyone does it. I’m just being honest here.

I’m a medic, get me out of here!

Why does your job take over your life? I recently went to an event where most of the people there were doctors. (I’m not quite there yet). To be honest I think we medics are the worst. When in the company of other doctors we can’t seem to talk about anything other than medicine. I felt for the poor non-medics dotted around the room. (There weren’t many of them I don’t think). I can imagine if I were in their situation I would feel rather left out. We as a group must seem very dull. We seem to have no other interests than our job. Indeed our jobs are our lives. Of course, being interested in your job is a great thing however; having nothing else in your life I think, is a great shame.

Ok, I suppose I exaggerate. I’m sure all of these people have other interests, hobbies and past times but I really do think that the world of medicine is a bit of a bubble. It’s isolated from the rest of the universe with their acronyms and abbreviations and jargon. It really does seem that way. And I’m on the inside.

My mother's Tongue

I recently came back from a trip to Ghana. Whenever I go there I’m always a bit worried as to how I’m going to communicate with people. Although my family are originally from Ghana I was born and raised in England. My parents didn’t speak much Twi with me as I was growing up so I never learned it. When I go to there my ‘foreignness’ shows. Big Time.

I hate it. Every time I go I tell myself I must learn the language. It’s My language I tell myself. Or is it? When I speak the words sound alien on my tongue. I never know if I’m saying the right words, and/or saying them in the right order etc. People furrow their eyebrows, squint their eyes and try to decipher what I’ve said. Or they just look at me like I’m stupid. My family encourage me to try.

Excuses Excuses

Procrastination is the thief of time.

There's no doubt about that. 

I procrastinate all the time. My life is one long procrastination. When I was young I wanted to be an author. My biggest idea for a story has been brewing in my head for the last 10 years. I haven't written down a word. I've always been waiting for the time when my writing would be 'good enough'. The problem is I never bothered to practise.

I like to get things right first time. I'm one of those perfectionist-type people. I need to have a well ordered plan. I need to be in control. But I'm lazy. Instead of doing the work I postpone things. It's easier that way. I tell myself it'll be better later if I do it later. I make excuses.

So my dreams fall by the wayside. My resolutions never turn into realities. I don't want this to sound like I'm being self-depreciating. I'm being honest (even if it does sound self-depreciating). Neither do I want this to sound like those stories where the underdog claws their way to success. You know the ones. They make you feel like you too could soar through the air like the high-flyers they are. But then you realise that they have the wings of eagles while yours are more like a housefly's. So you make an excuse. Or that's your excuse. You go back to work, or to school, or wherever. You do everything the same. In my case you go back to sleeping through your lectures.

Out of my comfort zone

I am always a little hesitant. To open up, to speak, to share. Especially in front of people. As in, in person. I hide behind words. Not my own mind you, more often than not someone else’s. There’s a wave of panic that hits me in conversation when someone asks me a question. They listen all too intently for my reply. But I’m supposed to be the listener.  I keep me in a box and sealed in bubble wrap. So understand me when I say this is out of my comfort zone.

I’d like to think I have something to say.

This is what it’s like to do something you’ve never done before. To take a leap into the great unknown.

To tell the world a story.

In my own words.