Fourteen surgical residents were divided into 2 groups. They were trained to perform simulated tasks in a noiseless environment and subsequently performed these tasks in a distractive one. In a follow-up experiment, an experimental group was trained in noisy and distractive conditions and was compared with a control group trained in noiseless conditions.
Residents who trained in noiseless environments possessed decreased surgical proficiency when performing the identical tasks in realistic environments (P < .05). Pretraining in a noisy environment improves surgical proficiency.
Noise and distractions can significantly impede performance of surgical residents, but this effect can be nullified by introduction of noise and distractions in the training environment.