Effects of preoperative warm-ups on veterinary medical students' performance with live dog laparoscopic ovariectomy.

Preoperative warm-up training improves laparoscopic surgical performance in veterinary students.

This randomized controlled trial investigated the effects of preoperative warm-up exercises on surgical performance in veterinary medical students performing laparoscopic ovariectomy (LOVE) on live dogs. Fifteen fourth-year veterinary students with basic laparoscopy training were randomly assigned to either a no warm-up control group (n=8) or a warm-up group (n=7) that completed 30 minutes of preoperative practice using a laparoscopic simulator and video game (Underground). Surgical procedures were video-recorded and evaluated by a blinded board-certified surgeon using a validated performance rubric. Results demonstrated that students in the warm-up group completed procedures 20 minutes faster (mean 63 minutes versus 84 minutes) and achieved significantly higher performance scores (mean 138.4 versus 121.5). These findings support the integration of warm-up exercises into veterinary surgical training programs and align with established practices in human surgical education, suggesting that simulator-based and video game-based warm-ups enhance both surgical efficiency and technical proficiency in laparoscopic procedures.

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