Video Games Helpful to Children and Surgeons
Other information gathered from the studies, however, didn't focus solely on game-playing children. They also used information gathered to gauge the abilities of some doctors and surgeons, and found that playing video games had a huge impact on their abilities as well.
"One study of 33 laparoscopic surgeons found that those who played video games were 27 percent faster at advanced surgical procedures and made 37 percent fewer errors than those who didn't.
Advanced video game skills also were a good way to predict suturing abilities, according to their study, which was published in the Archives of Surgery in 2007."
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"The single best predictor of their skills is how much they had played video games in the past and how much they played now. Those were better predictors of surgical skills than years of training and number of surgeries performed...So the first question you might ask your surgeon is how many of these (surgeries) have you done and the second question is 'Are you a gamer?"
To say the single best predictor of a surgeon's skills was how much they had played video games is a very bold statement. We have trouble buying into that statement fully, but believe there is some element of truth there. The fact of the matter is, a surgeon that is more comfortable manipulating a controller while getting visual feedback from a screen, is more likely to be comfortable performing surgeries in a similar manner.
"Researchers who gathered in Boston for the American Psychological Association convention detailed a series of studies suggesting video games can be powerful learning tools--from increasing younger students' problem-solving potential to improving the suturing skills of laparoscopic surgeons. One study even looked at whether playing "World of Warcraft," the world's biggest multiplayer online game, can improve scientific thinking."
News like this starkly contrasts much of what is reported in the mainstream media regarding video games. When games like Grand Theft Auto 4 launch and pull in more money than many so-called Hollywood Busters, much of the media tends to focus on the negative aspects of gaming. Yes, GTA4 is violent. But how many hours of entertainment and stress relief have adults gotten from playing the game? A lot. And according to these studies, those gamers are probably better problem solvers than their non-gamer counterparts.
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Of course, there was some bad news reported as well. "Other studies confirmed earlier research that found students who played violent games tended to be more hostile, less forgiving and believed violence to be normal compared to those who played nonviolent games. And those who played more entertainment games did poorer in school and were are greater risk of obesity."
Were the parent of these students also studied? We suspect that the fatter, more violent children gamers also have parents that were less involved and more willing to let the kids play whatever games they wanted.
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Via: CNN | News Archive
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Comments
LMAF Thank you. Someone gets it.
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Glad someone agrees! I had to hold back there actually, or I would have went on a rant. |
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With the generation of gamers we have I honestly think that its not too far off to have surgeries done with an xbox controller in a seperate room (for increased sterilization of course) or maybe using PS controllers to fly planes and such...... What do you guys think? |
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I don't think the surgeries will be done with an Xbox or PS controller, but I do think more and more surgeries will be virtual and the surgeon may not even be in the same state as the patient. |
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Don't be silly - everyone knows that the Wii controller is much better for surgery! :p |
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Haha I did not mean that they'd use an actual controller for surgery...I meant that with ample dexterity and quick reaction times from video games our next gen doctors and pilots and such will probably use more remote control than manual. |
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I rememeber about 2 yrs or so ago that a company applied for a patient for a 3d holographics system that would allow surgoens to work cleanly. Since all the input was floating there would be nothing to touch and nothing to infect. It would allow the surgoens to have an aid for intense surgerys and greatly benefiting the patient. Seems like it was even mention on print in maximumpc |
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This is another bad thing about the patent system: Asshats are patenting things they have no idea how to actually create, in the hopes that they can extort money from someone that actually figures out the hard part. |
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Holycrap, i didn't know about that before. |
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