Going for the high score!

Way back in 2008, while most of the world was getting to grips with the wonder of the Nintendo Wii, a group of researchers was looking into how the system could help with important medical procedures.

That's right, a US study discovered that surgeons performed their duties much more effectively and efficiently after playing on the Wii for an hour beforehand. Apparently, playing some Wii allowed them to 'warm up' before having a poke around in patients' innards.

Now a new study has emerged confirming the very same thing: surgeons who spend an hour a day playing Wii perform better in the operating theatre.

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This time it was the University of Rome that conducted the study, which saw some postgraduate surgeons play an hour a day for a month, with another short-straw drawing half missing out.

Surgeons that had been playing Wii scored much higher as a group in simulated tasks designed to test the skills needed for laparoscopy, or keyhole surgery, than those who did not. Laparoscopic surgery involves inserting a tiny video camera into the body.

The report, found in the scientific journal PLOS One, said that using the Wii could become a "helpful, inexpensive and entertaining part of the training of young laparoscopists in addition to a standard surgical education based on simulators and the operating room".

It should be said that the games used were Wii Tennis, Wii Table Tennis and High Altitude Battle. No sign of Trauma Center, which feels like a bit of a missed opportunity.

[source telegraph.co.uk]