Lego builds anaesthesia skills according to new study

Date:
July 21, 2020
Source:
University of Nottingham
Summary:
Lego could be used as a practical tool to train doctors in
anaesthetic skills according to new research that has shown a simple
task using the building bricks can help improve technical skills -
a finding that could improve medical training and patient safety.



FULL STORY ==========================================================================
Lego could be used as a practical tool to train doctors in anaesthetic
skills according to new research that has shown a simple task using
the building bricks can help improve technical skills -- a finding that
could improve medical training and patient safety.


========================================================================== Scientists from the University of Nottingham's School of Psychology and
School of Medicine developed a task where people copied shapes using
bricks that they could see in a mirror. They found this simple training improved student performance in an ultrasound-guided regional anaesthesia
task. The results of the study have been published in British Journal of Anaesthesia Ultrasound-guided regional anaesthesia is when anaesthetists
inject local anaesthetic medicines around specific nerves to provide
pain relief after surgery. The anaesthetists commonly use an ultrasound
machine to direct their injections into the correct position around the
nerve and minimise the risks of the procedure. Training new doctors
in these skills currently relies on extensive practice on expensive
simulators and learning during clinical care.

Dr Hewson, Honorary Assistant Professor at the University of Nottingham
and Consultant Anaesthetist at Nottingham University Hospitals NHS
Trust explains: "Ultrasound guided regional anaesthesia is a vital
skill practiced by anaesthetists around the world to reduce pain after
surgery. These procedures require a high level of accuracy and skill
and it is vital we find safe and reliable ways to help train doctors
to perform them. We wanted to explore an inexpensive, accessible and self-directed educational tool to improve the ability of doctors to
perform regional anaesthesia using ultrasound direction." The educational
tool required students to view in a mirror two-dimensional images of three-dimensional models constructed from Lego Duplo(R) bricks. They then
had to recreate the models they could see in the mirror. After they had completed building the models, they were able to compare them directly
with the originals. If they failed the task, they were asked to return
to the mirror and make good any errors. Scientists measured the students ability to perform ultrasound-guided injections on a laboratory model
before and after this training and saw that students exposed to the
Lego training performed the ultrasound task significantly better than
students who did not receive Lego training.

Professor Eamonn Ferguson from the University of Nottingham's School of Psychology helped to design the task and explains why it worked: "This
research provides a simple and innovative solution to improving people's spatial rotation and awareness. That is, to perform many modern medical technical skills a doctor has to understand how a two-dimensional image
of an organ relates to the three-dimensional world inside the body. This involves finding anatomical landmarks and understanding where you are
in 3D space, from a 2D image with no usual cues of judging up-down,
top-bottom, left-right. We found previously people with good mental
rotation skills were better at regional anaesthesia, so we wanted
to develop a way of developing these skills, in a simple, safe and
inexpensive fashion. We did this by developing a simple task that mirrors
-- literally- the key features of ultrasound-guided regional anaesthesia
-- understanding 3D from 2D. We had people actively engage in building
as this helps to coordinate eye-hand movement and 3D representations
in the brain. This simple task was extremely effective. Ten to fifteen
minutes on this simple Lego building task, can save on expensive time
in the simulator.

We were delighted with the results."

========================================================================== Story Source: Materials provided by University_of_Nottingham. Note:
Content may be edited for style and length.


========================================================================== Journal Reference:
1. David W. Hewson, Rasmus Knudsen, Sanjeevan Shanmuganathan, Eamonn
Ferguson, Jonathan G. Hardman, Nigel M. Bedforth, Rob
A. McCahon. Effect of mental rotation skills training on
ultrasound-guided regional anaesthesia task performance by novice
operators: a rater-blinded, randomised, controlled study. British
Journal of Anaesthesia, 2020; DOI: 10.1016/j.bja.2020.04.090 ==========================================================================

Link to news story: https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2020/07/200721114720.htm

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