A video game playing surgeon could be a real life saver

ABC13 ^ | 4/7/04 | The Associated Press

[He Rides A White Horse]

Yes, here we go!" said Rosser, sitting in front of a Super Monkey Ball game, which shoots a ball into a confined goal.

Kind of like putting a laser guided bomb through the window of some Muslim cleric's house. Keep practicing boys.

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[qam1]

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[Riley]

Speaking as a gamer, and someone who went under the knife yesterday morning (angioplasty and a stent), I'd LOVE to have a surgical sim to play with.

[tbird5]

My son should be a doctor. Can't get him away from the games.

[ECM]

I do the gaming thing for a living, but I had no idea it could be taken this far!

[SedVictaCatoni]

TuM0r***0v3rl0rd*** has been excised.
TuM0r***0v3rl0rd***: wtf l3m3r c4mp3r f4g00t!!!1
SuRgEoN^_^D00d: lol cya

[eno_]

"Yes ma'am, I total p0wn3d your husband's arterial blockage."

[Riley]

LOL! Not sure how you could be a 'camper' in a surgery sim!

[Simmy2.5]

Sounds logical in a way. Some video games require skill to complete. Especially some of those arcade games (shooting a target, making sure it is the RIGHT target, and shooting it accurately. I can see this kind of game helping people hone in on their targeting skills). HOWEVER, I never thought about it being useful for surgeons and doctors. If this is the case, cool.

Though, while I play a lot of games, I somehow doubt...I would be a great doctor. Just my opinion. ;-)

[Erasmus]

Well, they need to put out a new video game that is actually based on laparoscopy. Call it "Mission to Uranus."

[Old Professer]

It would really be something if they could put an accelerometer in the incising end and a small feedback servomotor in the joystick so one could actually "feel" when he was touching tissue. Creative idea #11,001,001

[glaux]

Halo-rifice

[SedVictaCatoni]

Dude, I've seen them on TV. Those surgeons just stand in one place the whole time.

[Lancey Howard]

About 15 years ago a guy I knew who worked (in a civilian capacity) at the Naval Air Development Center told me that the Navy pilots were encouraged to play video games. They even set up the arcades in the base so that the pilots could take the "cards" with them (back then the games were mainly played on big stand-up machines as opposed to televisions) from station to station. This way, they could continue games in progress without having to start over. The theory was that playing video games enhanced hand-eye coordination.

[dixiechick2000]

Beware the surgeon with Action Replay.

[Lancey Howard]

[Erasmus]

Don't have time to look it up right now, maybe in a few hours, but there was a thread on this here a year or two ago about a cross-country remote surgery experiment. I posted my (usual erudite!) two cents.

[eno_]

Saw it in Atari's lab in Cambridge about 25 years ago.