Impact of a Virtual Endoscopy Training Curriculum in Novice Endoscopists: First Experience in Argentina.

Background: Virtual reality simulation in gastrointestinal endoscopy is an educational tool that allows repetitive instruction in a non-patient care environment.

Aim: To determine the impact of a virtual endoscopy training curriculum applying an objective pre- and post-training analysis on trainee endoscopists.

Methods: A before-after training study was carried out. Subjects were first year fellows of gastroenterology, who completed a questionnaire and then performed two pre-training simulated cases. The virtual endoscopy training curriculum consisted of an 8-h workday utilizing two GI MENTOR™ in a specialized clinical simulation center. After the training, all subjects completed the same two cases they did in the pre-training. Pre- and post-training results' comparisons were made by paired t test.

Results: Totally, 126 subjects were included (mean age 30 years, 61% female). A significant improvement from pre- to post-training was observed in psychomotor skills (total time, percentage, and number of balloons exploded) and endoscopic skills (cecal intubation time, percentage of examined mucosa, and efficacy of screening). There was also an improvement in the quality of the endoscopic study; percentage of examined mucosa over 85% showed a significant improvement post-training with an adjusted OR of 2.72 (95% CI 1.51-4.89, p = 0.001).

Conclusions: Virtual endoscopy training curriculum produces a significant improvement in the trainee endoscopists performance and their psychomotor skills and introduces the concept of a quality endoscopic study in a non-patient, risk-free environment.