Nintendo can add this to their philanthropic list of trying to help people, whether it's to lose weight or just kill time. Wiis have been used in some hospitals for a while now. Ever since its release, these hospitals have been implementing them in their physiotherapy program by making patients do the activities in Wii Sports. But this is one of the first few times that it's being used to aid doctors and, in this case, surgeons. The Banner Good Samaritan Medical Center, in Arizona, has been using the Wii to help surgeons by using the simulation games on the Wii. The Wii provides a much cheaper alternative to proper surgery simulators. However, the Wii will also be receiving special simulation software later on that is designed specifically to train surgeons.

Playing with the Wii could help surgeons in training improve their fine motor skills and performance in a surgical simulator. Eight trainees were asked to play the Wii for an hour before performing virtual laparoscopic surgery with a tool that simulates a patient's body and tracks the surgeon's movements as he or she operates.


The Wii-playing residents scored 48 percent higher than others without the warm-up with the Wii, working faster and more accurately.


Although the researchers first relied on off-the-shelf Wii games, they will soon release a complete surgical training system they designed for the Wii, where trainees can practice suturing and other procedures.


"There's really no accurate way to train surgeons in the operating room, so it's virtually all the on-the-job training, which is very time-inefficient," explained researcher Mark Smith, an endoscopic surgeon at Banner Good Samaritan Medical Center in Arizona. "There are surgery simulators out there, but these are still very expensive. With the Wii, we have a very easy and inexpensive platform where surgery residents can learn and develop their skills."

McClubbin via news.yahoo.com »