Lap Mentor III
bleeding, hernia, injury to vessels or ductus deferens
DISSECTION, BLEEDING, COMPLICATIONS
All participants completed the “Inguinal Hernia Module” on the same VR trainer, the Lap Mentor III (Lap Mentor™, Simbionix©, Cleveland, USA). The procedure was a Transabdominal Preperitoneal Plasty (TAPP). It is structured into two tasks: task 1: Anatomy Identification and task 2: Incision and Dissection. Participants always completed these two tasks consecutively until proficiency was reached. Proficiency for the inguinal hernia module on the VR trainer was defined for task 1 to correctly identify on the first attempt every anatomical structure and for task 2 to complete the procedure without complications (injury to vessels or ductus deferens, unstoppable bleeding). The number of attempts needed to reach proficiency level was counted, as well as the time needed to perform the procedure (task 2). As the TAPP represents a complex surgical procedure for novices, every student was allowed to look at a didactic image derived from task 1 on the VR trainer (Fig. Didactic image for inguinal hernia module for task 1 on virtual reality trainer