Meditation Using a Mobile App Improves Surgery Trainee Performance: A Simulation-Based Randomized Controlled Trial

• Published in: Arthroscopy Vol. 39; no. 5; pp. 1262 - 1270
• Main Authors: Li, Wei, Meng, Xiangqing, Zhang, Kai-Jun, Yang, Zhouwen, Feng, Zhuoxi, Tong, Kuang, Tian, Jing
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: United States Elsevier Inc 01.05.2023
• Subjects: Clinical Competence; Computer Simulation; Humans; Meditation; Mobile Applications; Simulation Training
• DOI: 10.1016/j.arthro.2022.09.008
• ISSN: 0749-8063

To primarily investigate: (1) whether a 10-minute instant meditation practice using a mobile app could enhance arthroscopy performance and (2) whether a 10-day app-based meditation could reduce short-term arthroscopic skills deterioration. Orthopaedic residents with no previous experience in arthroscopy and meditation were randomly assigned to groups A, B, and C. After initial standard competency-based arthroscopy training on the simulator on day 1, a pretest was performed via the simulator by all participants to assess their initial level of performance, then groups A and B were required to practice app-based mindfulness meditation 10 min/day for 10 consecutive days while group C did nothing. On day 11, all participants returned to perform a posttest. Before the posttest, the participants in group A practiced app-based meditation (10 minutes), whereas groups B and C had no intervention. In total, 43 participants were included and reached similar level of performance after initial training phase in day 1. On day 11, participants in group A had statistically a better instant arthroscopy performance than group B, with greater total score (mean difference [MD] 3.57; P < .001), less completion time (MD –42.89 seconds; P = .001), shorter camera (MD –23.38 cm; P < .001) and grasper (MD –15.23 cm; P = .002) path length, and less cartilage injury (MD –1.07%; P = .012). Participants in group B had less skills deterioration than group C, with better total score (MD –5.42; P < .001), less completion time (MD 51.96s; P = .002), camera path length (MD 28.41 cm; P = .007), and cartilage injury (MD 1.19%; P = .038). Meditation training using a mobile app enhanced instant simulation-based arthroscopy performance and reduced short-term skills deterioration of orthopaedic residents with no arthroscopy hands-on experience. A meditation using mobile app for clinicians and educators should be incorporated into simulation-based arthroscopy curriculums and perhaps clinical settings to improve arthroscopy performance and mental health of orthopaedic residents without any previous arthroscopy experience.