'Wii warm-up' good for surgeons

Friday, January 18, 2008

Playing computer games such as the Nintendo Wii can improve a surgeon's performance in the operating theatre, a US study shows.

Only certain games are effective - those requiring delicate movements. The fine hand control required to play these games acts as a warm up and hones scalpel skills the Banner Good Samaritan Medical Centre team claim. Now they are designing Wii software that will accurately simulate surgical procedures, New Scientist reports.

Researcher Kanav Kohel explained that the type of game play was crucial. "You don't gain a lot from swinging an imaginary tennis racket. The whole point about surgery is to execute small finely controlled movements with your hands, and that is exactly what you get with the Wii."

Colleague Mark Marshall said the games consoles were cheap enough to be used to train surgeons in poorer countries where cutting-edge virtual reality systems were not available.

Check out the BBC article here for more.

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