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Education & training
Advances in intrauterine technique training
  1. Anne Connolly1,
  2. Sarah Rybowski2
  1. 1General Practitioner with Special Interest in Gynaecology, The Ridge Medical Practice, Bradford, UK
  2. 2Global Medical Affairs Physician, Bayer HealthCare Pharmaceuticals, Berlin, Germany
  1. Correspondence to Anne Connolly, The Ridge Medical Practice, Bradford BD7 3JX, UK; anne.connolly{at}bradford.nhs.uk

https://doi.org/10.1136/jfprhc-2011-100190

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    Background

    Virtual reality for practical training has come a long way since the early days of flight simulation during the first part of the last century. It is used in many environments, including spatial awareness, military and surgical training. Three-dimensional physical models (generally plastic) and computer-aided two-dimensional training allow participants to interact visually with objects but usually lack tactile sensation feedback. One improvement is to incorporate haptic technology. By definition, haptics (from the Greek word haptikos, pertaining to the sense of touch and pronounced hap-tiks) is a tactile feedback technology that takes advantage of a user's sense of touch. Stimulation of the user's sense of touch is accomplished by applying forces, vibrations, resistances and/or motions back to the user by means of special input/output devices called ‘end effectors’ (jointed mechanical arm pieces), joysticks, data gloves or similar devices. Thus this is the science of applying touch (tactile) sensation and control to interactions within computer applications or graphics. In combination with a visual display, haptic technology can be used as an adjunct to training programmes for skilled tasks requiring hand–eye co-ordination.

    Haptic technology

    Haptic technology is gaining wider use in several industries, and it has been particularly successful in medicine during the last decade.1 Applications range from training in dental techniques1 and laparoscopic surgery2 to the rehabilitation of patients with cerebral palsy or stroke with functionally impaired upper or lower limbs.3 4 Recently, a group in Illinois, USA reported that they had used haptic technology successfully to assess the variation in surgical proficiency among orthopaedic residency trainees.5 A systematic review of the literature has suggested that simulator training for knee arthroscopy employing haptic technology and computer-generated outcome data enhanced the skills of inexperienced practitioners, and may lead …

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    Footnotes

    • Funding Funding was provided by Bayer HealthCare Pharmaceuticals.

    • Competing interests Dr Anne Connolly has received consultancy fees from Bayer HealthCare Pharmaceuticals, the manufacturer of Mirena®. Dr Sarah Rybowski is an employee of Bayer HealthCare Pharmaceuticals.

    • Provenance and peer review Not commissioned; externally peer reviewed.