Systematic review of academic robotic surgery curricula

The use of robotic surgery has increased exponentially in the United States. Despite this uptick in popularity, no standardized training pathway exists for surgical residents or practicing surgeons trying to cross-train onto the platform. We set out to perform a systematic review of existing literature to better describe and analyze existing robotic surgical training curricula amongst academic surgery programs. A systematic electronic search of the PubMed, Cochrane, and EBSCO databases was performed for articles describing simulation in robotic surgery from January 2010 to May 2022. Medical Subject Heading (MeSH) terms and keywords used to conduct this search were “Robotic,” “Surgery,” “Robotic Surgery,” “Training,” “Curriculum,” “Education,” and “Residency Program.” A total of 110 articles were identified for the systematic review. After screening the titles and abstracts, a total of 36 full-text original articles were included in this systematic review. Of these, 24 involved robotic surgery curricula designed to teach general robotic skills, whereas the remaining 12 were for teaching procedure specific skills. Of the 24 studies involving general robotic skills, 13 included didactics as a part of the curriculum, 23 utilized virtual reality trainers, 3 used inanimate tissue, and 1 used live animal models. Of the 12 papers reviewed regarding procedure specific curricula, seven involved urologic procedures (radical prostatectomy and nephrectomy), two involved general surgical procedures (colectomy and Roux-en-Y gastric bypass surgery), two involved obstetrics and gynecology procedures (hysterectomy with myomectomy and sacrocolpopexy, hysterectomy with pelvic lymphadenectomy) and one involved a cardiothoracic surgery procedure (robotic internal thoracic artery harvest). With the rapid implementation of robotic surgery, training programs have been tasked with the responsibility of ensuring their trainees are adequately proficient in the platform prior to graduation. However, due to the lack of uniformity between surgical training programs, when it comes to robotic surgical experience, a strong need persists for a standardized national robotics training curriculum.