Gamers make better surgeons
by Alexander Sliwinski 
{ Feb 19th 2007 at 11:15PM }
A study at Beth Israel Medical Center in New York found doctors who had played video games at least three hours per week made "37 percent fewer errors, performed 27 percent faster and scored 42 percent better in the test of surgical skills."Following a study we reported on today that games don't actually lead to violent behavior, can we say games will help make better doctors? "Parents should not see this study as beneficial if their child is playing video games for over an hour a day," said Douglas Gentile, one of the authors of the study. "Spending that much time playing video games is not going to help their child's chances of getting into medical school." Gentile was also part of a survey in 2004 that found adolescents who play video games for an average of nine hours a week had a 94 percent chance of being aggressive, getting bad grades and generally being sloth like.
The prognosis here is that playing at least three hours a week makes you a surgeon, but around nine hours you'll end up becoming a blight to humanity. So, get your kids some Trauma Center, let them play it one hour every day during the week and call us in 20 years.
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
Sensai @ Feb 19th 2007 11:21PM
They should see if playing Phoenix Wright makes you a better lawyer...
...or just makes your view of the court system laughable.
Count Chocula @ Feb 19th 2007 11:26PM
Jack Thompson's head just exploded.
REUYL @ Feb 19th 2007 11:45PM
I believe it, sort of: I had a Lumbar puncture (spinal tap) some years back, and the doctors and I talked about Super Mario 64 and Pokemon Snap the whole time.
It was the best spinal procedure I've ever had.
Raikage @ Feb 19th 2007 11:51PM
Gamers also make better murderers and rapists... and guitar players... and dancers...
XD
Iced_Eagle @ Feb 20th 2007 12:24AM
Does playing Defcon make me a better nuclear war tactician? :D
fawazr @ Feb 20th 2007 12:44AM
something about dexterity, concentration, hand/eye coordination, and reflexes... this isn't a huge stretch. It should be common sense.
comtar @ Feb 20th 2007 1:16AM
But sadly, Wii Sports doesn't teach you how to be a better Baseball Player. Sorry guys.
religiousjedi @ Feb 20th 2007 2:06AM
And me Dad wants me to break all my Ninty consoles and handhelds to pieces...HA!
Purple Haze @ Feb 20th 2007 2:17AM
im not to sure about the nine hour thing. I play games for at least nine hours a week andi don't consider myself to aggresive and i dont have oo bad grades. I just finished a three hour play of vagrant story.
Don Carajo @ Feb 20th 2007 5:25AM
I am a surgeon in training and I have an Xbox 360 and Wii. I think playing games definitely has given me a slight advantage when it comes to procedural skills, especially those that are done through a TV screen (laparoscopic "keyhole" surgery and colonoscopies/gastroscopies). Not that I would admit it to my colleagues though...
scott @ Feb 20th 2007 8:56AM
#4: I play a lot of video games and I've done a lot of lumbar punctures. Video game skills and manual dexterity have very little to do with these one-shot procedures. It has more to do with knowing where to go and how to use the procedural tools. As well as luck and the size of the patient.
Playing video games does help with learning how to do endoscopies but this advantage equals out with the more endoscopies one does.
There was a study over ten years ago at U of Mich I believe that compared manual dexterity among surgeons versus other physicians. The surgeons were no more dextrous and even slightly less (though insignificantly so).
Above all, knowledge and experience makes a better surgeon. Playing video games probably helps during your early residency years most likely.
Christopher Lawrance @ Feb 20th 2007 9:57AM
Atleast now I can tell me collegues and my future attending, I'm just training for my boards...Please believe Trauma Center was a game I bought with my Wii on day 1.
Anonymous Coward @ Feb 20th 2007 11:29AM
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S9DSBWILBSU
BigDrahma @ Feb 20th 2007 11:32AM
Maybe it's a concentration thing more than a hand-eye coordination thing. Doctors with DS's know better how to relieve their stress, relax, and clear their minds to concentrate on the task at hand. The Zone is a powerful place to be, as any shmup fan would agree. Maybe playing three hours a week is opening the door to The Zone a little wider for those guys.
WhatIsThatThing @ Feb 20th 2007 12:03PM
I remember my grandfather telling me about a similar article...about two or three years ago. Either way though, it's still interesting.
LunarDuality @ Feb 20th 2007 12:13PM
Did they ever consider that playing *only* 9 hours makes you aggressive and bad at school? During my school days I would sometimes play 30-40 hours a week and I still had a 3.9-4.0 GPA. Oh well.
Sarge @ Feb 20th 2007 12:38PM
Gah, this whole "Games are good for you, but can never be bad for you" tack is driving me crazy. You can't have it both ways!
That being said, I don't doubt the validity of this particular study. It makes sense, hand-eye coordination and all that.
Remember, folks, absence of proof is not the same thing as proof of absence. Just because someone hasn't proven something empirically doesn't mean that it's untrue. I believe that games CAN have negative effects AND positive effects. People would get off our backs if certain people would just shut up and just acknowledge that. Maybe Jack Thompson would finally go away.
Sarge out.
BPM @ Feb 20th 2007 3:08PM
LET'S BEGIN THE OPERATION!
Mr Khan @ Feb 20th 2007 7:06PM
@ Sarge
"The absence of evidence is not the evidence of absence"
lol Boondocks
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r3AFfpjIEPk