@article{7797,
  author = {Craig Szafranski and Kanav Kahol and Vafa Ghaemmaghami and Marshall Smith and John J. Ferrara},
  title = {Distractions and surgical proficiency: an educational perspective.},
  abstract = {<p><b>BACKGROUND: </b>Surgery training requires residents to focus on tasks while minimizing the effect of distractions. There is a need to develop training methodologies that can enable surgical residents to hone this ability.</p><p><b>METHODS: </b>Fourteen surgical residents were divided into 2 groups. They were trained to perform simulated tasks in a noiseless environment and subsequently performed these tasks in a distractive one. In a follow-up experiment, an experimental group was trained in noisy and distractive conditions and was compared with a control group trained in noiseless conditions.</p><p><b>RESULTS: </b>Residents who trained in noiseless environments possessed decreased surgical proficiency when performing the identical tasks in realistic environments (P < .05). Pretraining in a noisy environment improves surgical proficiency.</p><p><b>CONCLUSIONS: </b>Noise and distractions can significantly impede performance of surgical residents, but this effect can be nullified by introduction of noise and distractions in the training environment.</p>},
  year = {2009},
  journal = {Am J Surg},
  volume = {198},
  pages = {804-10},
  month = {12/2009},
  issn = {1879-1883},
  doi = {10.1016/j.amjsurg.2009.04.027},
  language = {eng},
}