When Surgeons Play Games: What Medical Research Tells Us About Skill Transfer

A study published in JAMA Surgery has validated something I’ve suspected for a long time. The skills developed through video games transfer directly to high-stakes professional performance. Naturally, as someone who facilitates COTS game workshops for skill development, I found myself super excited about the findings. I did my best to temper my expectations and approach it through a critical lens.

The Research That's Making Headlines

The study, conducted by Rosser and colleagues, put 33 surgical residents and attending physicians through the Top Gun Laparoscopic Skills and Suturing program while measuring their video game experience and current gaming habits. What they discovered was pretty interesting. Surgeons who played video games for more than 3 hours per week made 37% fewer errors and completed tasks 27% faster than their non-gaming colleagues (The Impact of Video Games on Training Surgeons in the 21st Century, February 2007).

The methodology was straightforward. Researchers used the validated Top Gun program, which includes precision tasks like placing pegs, cutting patterns, and performing intracorporeal suturing on porcine tissue. They then correlated performance with participants' gaming backgrounds through detailed surveys about past and current video game play.

The most compelling finding was that when researchers ranked participants by demonstrated video game skill (not just self-reported experience), those in the top tertile made 47% fewer errors, performed 39% faster, and scored 41% better overall than the bottom performers (The Impact of Video Games on Training Surgeons in the 21st Century, February 2007).

A medical tray full of operating tools - Wix Images

Where This Research Hits Home

What immediately struck me about these findings is how they align with something I consistently observe in my own workshops. When I'm facilitating sessions with commercial pilots, those with gaming backgrounds spend significantly less time learning game mechanics and jump straight into practicing the core skill we're targeting. In their case, it was 2-crew communication protocols under pressure.

This matches exactly what the surgical research suggests. That gaming experience creates a foundation that accelerates skill acquisition in other domains. The pilots aren't just faster at picking up the game; they're faster at extracting the underlying skill lessons because they're not cognitively overloaded by basic interface navigation. I understand this may be an indirect correlation, but I think it is interesting nonetheless. I’ll consider it a point of research that supports my practice, but definitely with a grain of salt.

Here's why. The surgical study focused entirely on precision-based, hand-eye coordination tasks. While that's clearly relevant for laparoscopic surgery, I see skill transfer happening in much broader areas during my workshops. Participants develop communication skills, leadership capabilities, and complex problem-solving approaches through COTS games—none of which require the fine motor control that dominated this medical research.

Additional research supports this broader transfer principle. A systematic review found that video games demonstrate potential as adjunctive training in surgical skill education, with gaming history being particularly beneficial in robotic surgery and laparoscopy (Can video games enhance surgical skills acquisition for medical students?, January 2021). This suggests the transfer effects extend beyond just manual dexterity into more complex procedural and decision-making skills.

Another possible research question for the future could be to look into whether or not video games have any positive effect on the fine motor skills of those who are now considered “elderly”. Does playing video games reduce the chances or severity of joint degeneration? As someone with a few rare forms of arthritis myself, I certainly hope so.

What This Means for Game-Based Skill Development

Here's my “creative extension” of these findings: if video games can reduce surgical errors by 37% (JAMA Surgery Study, February 2007), what might they do for other precision-requiring professional skills? I'm thinking project management accuracy, financial analysis precision, quality control attention to detail, or even customer service response timing.

The research suggests we should see similar improvements in any role where:

• Fine motor control matters (graphic design, manufacturing, instrument operation)

• Hand-eye coordination is critical (equipment operation, technical demonstrations)

• Precision timing affects outcomes (emergency response, customer service, logistics coordination)

  
  

But as usual, I suspect the real opportunity lies in areas the researchers didn't measure. Based on my observations, I predict gaming background would correlate even more strongly with:

• Adaptive problem-solving: Gamers encounter and overcome novel challenges constantly

• Stress performance: Games create safe environments for practicing under pressure

• Systems thinking: Complex games require understanding interconnected mechanics

• Collaborative coordination: Multiplayer experiences build team communication skills

  
  

The Practical Laboratory Test

Given the chance, I would want to track participants' gaming backgrounds against their skill development rates across different competencies. The surgical research gives us a framework for measuring skill transfer, but I suspect we'll find even stronger correlations in cognitive and collaborative areas.

Specifically, I would guess that participants with significant gaming experience will show:

• 25-30% faster acquisition of complex problem-solving frameworks

• Improved stress response during high-pressure simulation scenarios

• Better team coordination in collaborative COTS game exercises

• More creative approaches to novel challenge scenarios

  
  

If these predictions hold, it suggests that gaming background isn't just an advantage. It could be a fundamental accelerator for any experiential learning approach.

What This Research Means for L&D Teams

The surgical findings provide concrete validation for something many of us believed but couldn't quantify. Gaming skills create transferable professional competencies. For L&D professionals, this research suggests several immediate applications:

1. When designing skill development programs, consider participants' gaming backgrounds as a significant variable affecting learning speed and approach. Gamers may need less time on basic mechanics and more challenges in advanced applications.

2. The research also validates using COTS games as serious training tools. If surgeons can improve life-critical skills through commercial video games, there's no question that other professionals can develop workplace competencies through the same approach.

3. These findings suggest we should be measuring skill transfer more rigorously. The surgical study used objective performance metrics—errors, completion time, overall scores. L&D programs using game-based approaches should implement similar measurement frameworks to demonstrate effectiveness.

   
   

The Bigger Question This Raises

While this research validates game-based skill development in medical training, it also highlights how much we don't yet understand about transfer mechanisms. The real question isn't whether games develop transferable skills because I think this research settles that debate. The question is how broadly and powerfully these transfer effects extend across different professional domains and skill types.

Curious how these research insights could transform your team's skill development approach? Book a consultation to explore game-based applications of cutting-edge learning science and discover what precision improvements your team might achieve through strategic COTS games.