Measuring situation awareness of surgeons in laparoscopic training

The study of surgeons' eye movements is an innovative way of assessing skill and situation awareness, in that a comparison of eye movement strategies between expert surgeons and novices may show differences that can be used in training. Our preliminary study compared eye movements of 4 experts and 4 novices performing a simulated gall bladder removal task on a dummy patient with an audible heartbeat and simulated vital signs displayed on a secondary monitor. We used a head-mounted Locarna PT-Mini eyetracker to record fixation locations during the operation. The results showed that novices concentrated so hard on the surgical display that they were hardly able to look at the patient's vital signs, even when heart rate audibly changed during the procedure. In comparison, experts glanced occasionally at the vitals monitor, thus being able to observe the patient condition.