Drilling sounds are used by surgeons and intermediate residents, but not novice orthopedic trainees, to guide drilling motions.

Background: The purpose of our study was to investigate the impact of distracting noise on the performance on a simulated orthopedic bone drilling skill when that noise blocks routine auditory feedback associated with the sounds of the drill.

Methods: Medical students (n=11), intermediate residents (postgraduate years 3-5, n=10) and surgeons (n=8) each drilled 20 bicortical holes in a femur bone from a lamb: 10 holes without and 10 holes with the presence of distracting noise. We quantified surgical outcome in the form of plunge depth using computer-assisted objective methods.

Women living with a spinal cord injury: perceptions about their changed bodies.

In this article we illuminate the narratives of women living with a spinal cord injury (SCI) with regard to (a) learning how to live with a changed body and (b) exploring the factors that influence how they feel toward their new bodies. An SCI produces immediate physical impairments resulting in a changed body, which can then have physical, emotional, and social consequences to these women. Through its focus on enhancing the body, physical therapy can help to promote a positive view of the self within the changed body.

Control of laparoscopic instrument motion in an inanimate bench model: implications for the training and the evaluation of technical skills.

Computer-assisted analysis of wrist movement has recently emerged as an objective laparoscopic performance evaluation method. The first purpose of this study was to assess the differences in motion characteristics between the tip of the instrument and the wrist. The second purpose was to describe the control strategies used to move laparoscopic instruments.

Control of laparoscopic instrument motion in an inanimate bench model: implications for the training and evaluation of technical skills.

Laparoscopic surgery requires new methods of technical competency evaluation, as well as training. The first purpose was to assess the differences in motion characteristics between the tip of the instrument and the wrist. The second purpose was to determine whether similar control strategies are used to move instruments in virtual reality and bench model environments.