Videogames And Surgery - Fine Bedfellows?

Thanks to GamerDad for their editorial discussing why playing videogames can make you a better doctor. The author, a medical man and long-time gamer, found "...that when learning how to perform laparoscopic surgery, that it seemed to come relatively easy for me", explaining laparoscopy is "...operating by watching the instruments on a television screen. You are not able to look down at your hands because you need to keep your eyes on the screen." He credits games as "honing my hand-eye coordination", and concludes: "In my professional opinion, growing up in the age of video games has helped me to learn how to perform laparoscopic surgery more easily and quickly." Which careers are you better-suited for through your use of videogames?

I beat Leisure Suit Larry!

[NanoGator]

Now I can't wait to find out how good I am at LoViN!

Re:I beat Leisure Suit Larry!

[Yorrike]

Just make sure that the third time you get to it, that you have the manual at hand in order to look up keywords once you'd doned the grass skirt.

Which careers are you better-suited for through yo

[KDan]

Hmm... it's too rude to say on a forum which may be visited by children.

Daniel

Doom

[neglige]

Oh my, yes! Running around with the chainsaw made me see lots of internal organs.

The chainsaw wasn't sterile, though.

another option

[InsaneCreator]

Videogames And Surgery

Also, don't forget to try alcohol and driving.

other fine "bedfellows"...

[snooo53]

Britney Spears and Natalie Portman!!

well, at least in the strictest unisex definition of the word

daley thompson's decathlon

[main()]

dunno about surgery, but all those hours hammering the joystick at Daley Thompson's Decathlon have made me a formidable masturbator.

The 1500m was a real stamina builder.

Si

Pilot

[Anonymous Coward]

A friend of mine is a pilot, and he too says that playing games has aided his hand-eye coordination. This is particularly true, he says, when using the training simulators. Indeed, some other pilots were visibly having difficulty in performing some tasks, while he found it rather easy (e.g. maintaining a crosshair in a particular position while flying).

I can also say that playing quake 3 has aided my ability to be rather good at clay pigeon shooting.

Sept 11

[spineboy]

Let's not forget, unfortunately, where the 9/11 hijackers aided their training - on a flight sim.

I don't intend to be inflammatory or a troll, but I do think it was a Microsoft flight sim.

I just hope...

[GypC]

... that he's not a "button-masher".

Helpful

[Hard_Code]

Video games are helpful. I mean, I used to be very awkward about beating a prostitute with a bat or shooting down a fleeing pedestrian, but now I can do it in my sleep. ;)

Re:Helpful

[IIRCAFAIKIANAL]

I mean, I used to be very awkward about beating a prostitute with a bat or shooting down a fleeing pedestrian, but now I can do it in my sleep. ;)

I had a dream last night that I was defending my apartment from ninja's using a sniper rifle. It was very video-game-ish, to say the least. I think I should stop playing video games for a few days :)

Re:Helpful

[Hard_Code]

That's preposterous. If you were defending your apartment from ninjas you would definately want a shotgun. Not enough range for a sniper rifle to be useful.

Re:Helpful

[IIRCAFAIKIANAL]

Actually, they were crawling up the sides of the building and jumping from the other buildings. Shotgun wouldn't have enough range...

hmmm

[truffle]

>Which careers are you better-suited for through your use of videogames?

Welfare recipient

What careers am I better suited for ...

[Tom7]

Grad student.

Playing Games Helped My Career

[DaFlusha]

My years of playing video games have honed my skills as a game designer. Funny that.

I got an Idea!

[Jhonny]

This is one of those articles I need to take home and give to Mom! " See mom! Surgeons get payed a lot! Now, how would it make you feel if I get into medical school and fail because I have not played enough Video games." :) See what that does about her "Saturday only" approach!

Not his professional opinion

[Trillian_1138]

The doctor in question says, "In my professional opinion, growing up in the age of video games has helped me to learn how to perform laparoscopic surgery more easily and quickly."

I would have to say that while he may believe videogames helped him perform surgery, and they very well may have, he has no legitimacy to place a 'professional' opinion on it. His profession would be surgery, not hand-eye coordination or visual skills. To have a professional opinion on the subject, he would need to have studied it specifically and extensively.

It would seem this is geared, rather, towards his personal opinion. A study (or at least a look-over by someone in the field of hand-eye coordination or visual research) would be required for anyone to voice a professional opinion.

-Trillian

Actually it's pretty well known in medical field!

[spineboy]

I'm an orthopaedic surgeon, and we do plenty of 'scopes (arthroscopy = placing instruments and camera into joints to perform/aid in surgery).
Within 5 seonds of a residents first time at the scope, you can tell whether they have played video games.

I definately played more games than my fellow residents, and was generally reguarded as the best in arthroscopy in my class.(Yes this is anecdotal evidence, but probably 90% of the OB/Gyns, general surgeons and orthopaedists that I have worked with think that playing video games helps!)

This is probably the only time in our training where we are encouraged to play video games!(Well, that is if you are sub-optimal at scoping.)

Re:Actually it's pretty well known in medical fiel

[Dolly_Llama]

There are simulators just for this purpose. [immersion.com]

Unemployed Computer Technician

[carcosa30]

Well, not exactly unemployed, more like "self employed." But I know a lot of completely unemployed computer technicians who are where they are because of their videogame addictions.

Oh, and watching flash movies on Newgrounds when they should have been answering tech support calls.

Homemaking! (or, Domestic Engineering)

[qirien]

Well, I'm a homemaker (and a wanna-be mom), and I think games have helped in several ways:

- If I don't know how to do something (like how to get rid of aphids on rosebushes), it's easy to look up hints, just like when you get stuck in a game
- I know from experience what game ratings usually mean, so I can make better informed decisions about what games our future kids will and won't play and at what ages they will play them
- It's improved my reflexes and ability to think about lots of things at the same ti

Counter/Terrorist! Soldier! Race car driver!

[n1ywb]

i PLAy CS so i can B a REOL special counter terrorism guy

Okay seriously, games like CS are pretty far from the real thing. Obviously, some games like realistic flight simulators are so good at teaching people a skill that they are really used in the really really real world to teach people skills before they are allowed to get into the cockpit of a real 747. Of course other simulations, like Silent Service, are so far from the real thing that if you were to ever get into a real sub after playing it you'd p

I'm a better..

[E1v!$]

Bot Pilot.

When the army finally comes out with their Robot Soldier I'll be right there to take on any of those evil middle-easter clans!

My future career

[skyknytnowhere]

Princess Rescuer.

And I even know what to say when she gives me lip!

"Excuuuuuuuuuse me, princess!"

im warning you ...

[PaganRitual]

... just like i warn the people that push me too far at work ... ive had extensive training over the last 20 years that has made me an expert in all sorts of fields ...

... pistols, machine guns, rifles, heavy weapons, both world war 2 and current ...

... unarmed combat, in multiple styles, including brawling, karate, ninjitsu, and all the eastern arts, including fighting with swords and nun-chuks, and axes ...

... i can drive multiple vehicles, cars, trucks, buses, bikes (both sports and dirt, and ev

Intellivision knew this in 1982

[claud9999]

Ever play Microsurgeon [intellivisionlives.com]?

(Sorry, it had to be mentioned.)