Earmark - Minimally Invasive Surgery Modeling and Simulation

Agency:		Department of Defense--Military
Bureau:		Research, Development, Test, and Evaluation
Account:		Research, development, test, and evaluation, Army (21-2040)
Certifying Official:		Deputy Comptroller Program/Budget
Contact Information:		http://WWW.DOD.GOV 703-697-5131

Minimally Invasive Surgery Modeling and Simulation

1 recipient will receive $1,437,000. This is a first-time earmark.

Year Enacted: 2005

Description: Evaluation of surgical skill in MIS can be made more accurate, objective, and general by considering cognitive and environmental factors such as mental workload, stress, situation awareness, and level of comfort with complex tools. This research will show that a framework for measuring cognitive human factors in MIS settings will provide an important, statistically significant set of metrics for evaluating performance with new technologies, tasks, and learning methodologies. Our aim will be to focus on fundamental psychometric properties of proposed measures, especially concurrent and predictive validities, as well as differential sensitivities to variations in training and tools. In addition, we will address the acceptance level of the measures by surgeons and will modify them to increase their ease of use within the challenging environment of the OR.

Beneficiary/Recipient	Amount ($K)	Program	Type	Address
University of Kentucky Research Foundation	$1,437		Non-Profit	Lexington, KY