Surgeons embrace Wii as new training tool
We’ve all heard the stories and read the articles about the Wii fast becoming a new physical rehabilitation tool. Anecdotes about stroke patients learning to walk again using Wii Fit, or avid bowlers recovering from their car accidents with the help of Wii Sports; if that doesn’t warm your heart even a little bit then you’re obviously some kind of monster.
Now the latex glove is on the other hand, as surgeons embrace the Wii as a new training device to improve hand-eye coordination, steadiness and manual dexterity.
The Banner Good Samaritan Hospital in Phoeniz, AZ has been the site of a year-long experiment to discover whether the fine motor movements required in some Wii games translate over to performing complicated surgeries.
“The surgeons develop an increased efficiency, less errors, more fluid movement - basically they’re just better,” Dr Mark Smith, director of the hospital’s Simulation Education and Training (SimET) Center told the Guardian. To quantify that, the surgeons who had been regularly playing the Wii scored 48% higher on tool control and performance than the control group who did not have access to the game console.
“We can always tell the surgeons who are gamers, because they’re naturally better,” said Smith. “But what we’re finding with the Wii is that the surgeons that use it regularly are achieving results that far outstrip those who have just gamed before.”
This doesn’t mean you can put Trauma Center: New Blood on your Gamefly queue and instantly become qualified to perform invasive surgery, but if you’re in med school and working towards becoming a surgeon then a Wii might be a good educational investment.
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I`ve heard about this back when it was first being tested. but I didn`t expect such fruitfull results. I find that the Wii keeps having more and more uses.