The effect of continuous at-home training of minimally invasive surgical skills on skill retention

Background Skill deterioration of minimally invasive surgical (MIS) skills may be prevented by continuous training. The aim of this study is to evaluate whether unsupervised continuous at-home training of MIS skills results in better skill retention compared to no training. Methods Medical doctors followed a two-week interval training for two MIS tasks (precise peg transfer and interrupted suture with knot tying), ending with a baseline test. They were randomly assigned to the no-practice group or continuous-practice group. The latter practiced unsupervised at home every two weeks during the study period. Skill retention was measured after three and six months on both tasks by the total time needed, distance traveled by instruments and LS-CAT score (8 best possible score and > 40 worst score). Results A total of 38 participants were included. No significant differences in performance were found at pre-test or baseline. At six months the no-practice group needed more time for the suturing task (309 s vs. 196 s at baseline, p = 0.010) and the LS-CAT score was significantly worse (30 vs. 20 at baseline, p