Perceived Usefulness and Acceptance of Telestration in Laparoscopic Training

In laparoscopic training, trainers take great effort to gesture over video for trainees to develop a mutual understanding of the complex operative field. To facilitate the conveyance of expert knowledge, we designed a telestration system that enables trainers to point or draw free hand sketches over a video for a trainee to see. The perceived usefulness and acceptance of the telestration system was evaluated by 18 surgeons fulfilling the role of trainer or trainee in a simulated laparoscopic surgical task. The post-task questionnaire responses suggest that the telestration system is useful in enhancing the trainees’ learning performance. In addition, we identify barriers that hinder the acceptance of the telestration system in surgical training and provide insights in improving the system design.