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Abstract

Background:

Tying surgical knots is a basic but critical skill that surgeons must master. Currently, knot tying is typically taught through instructor observation or instructional videos. These methods are either very resource consuming or offer little interactivity and customizability. Knot tying training in extended reality (XR) could address these weaknesses and improve the linking of observation and application: For example, spatial awareness and the ability to mentally rotate, i.e. imagine knots from different perspectives, affects learning performance (Brandt & Davies, 2006). XR may support spatial awareness by allowing knot tying from different perspectives superimposed on the real world.

Method:

The project GreifbAR develops an XR-based interactive knot tying training application. This application teaches the process of knot tying and provides individualized feedback based on hand pose and scene recognition. To achieve a learning-friendly design and user acceptance, the requirements of learners and experts must be considered. Therefore, based on a literature review, an online survey with 80 medical students and four interviews with experienced surgeons at Charité – Universitätsmedizin Berlin were conducted.

Initial results:

The respondents show openness towards knot tying training with XR, yet emphasize the importance of a realistic learning situations and personal guidance. They also report little prior experience with XR. The talk integrates the survey results with findings from technology acceptance research and derives implications for the design of XR-based training systems for knot tying and similar procedural tasks.