Sixty radiology residents (n = 60) were included to test our PTC simulator. All participants completed all questions, the first three questions were completed before the tutorial explanation, and the next five questions were completed after the training on the PTC simulator.
User’s previous PTC knowledge
Thirty (n = 30; 50%) participants categorized their previous knowledge of PTC as “poor,” twenty-six (n = 26; 43%) as “below average,” and four (n = 4; 7%) as “above average.”
User’s previous experience with simulators
Forty (n = 40; 67%) participants indicated that they have trained with medical simulators “rarely (< 1 time per year),” fifteen (n = 15; 25%) answered “sometimes (1 time per year),” and five (n = 5; 8%) indicated “often (2 times per year).”
User’s willingness to perform a PTC procedure before simulation training
Before the training, twenty-eight (n = 28; 47%) participants answered that they would “strongly disagree” to perform a PTC procedure and seventeen (n = 17; 28%) marked “disagree,” while eight (n = 8; 13%) and seven (n = 7; 12%) determined that they would “agree” and “strongly agree,” respectively.
User’s willingness to perform a PTC procedure after simulation training
After one session of training on the PTC simulator, twenty-six (n = 26; 43%) participants determined that they would “agree” to perform a PTC, twenty-five (n = 25; 42%) answered that they would “disagree,” five (n = 5; 8%) marked “strongly agree,” and four (n = 4; 7%) marked “strongly disagree.”
Realism of the eye-hand coordination simulation
Forty-four (n = 44; 73%) of the participants designated the realism of the eye-hand coordination simulation as “above average,” fifteen (n = 15; 25%) marked it as “excellent,” and one (n = 1; 2%) marked it as “below average.”
User satisfaction related to the PTC simulator
Twenty-six (n = 26; 43%) participants declared that they were “very satisfied” with the quality of the PTC simulator, thirty-two (n = 32; 53%) marked “satisfied,” and two (n = 2; 3%) were “dissatisfied.”
User PTC knowledge after simulator training
After the use of the PTC simulator, forty-six (n = 46; 77%) participants considered their level of knowledge of this procedure as “above average,” nine (n = 9; 15%) considered it to be “below average,” four (n = 4; 7%) marked “excellent,” and one (n = 1; 2%) designated his knowledge as “poor.”
User open opinion toward the PTC Simulator
The most common advantage that participants declared was “the PTC simulator gives the opportunity to understand how to control a needle in a 2D perspective and train eye to hand coordination,” and the most common disadvantage declared was “the camera is not able to angulate, so there is only one projection.”
Simulator training results
All participants (n = 60; 100%) were able to troll a cord by themselves, with an average time of 1:34 min. Twenty-six (n = 26; 43%) trolled the cord before the first minute, sixteen (n = 16; 27%) before the second minute, thirteen (n = 13; 22%) before the third minute, and five (n = 5; 8%) before the fourth minute. Only one (n = 1; 2%) participant punctured the simulated pleura. The number of punctures and the distance away from the target were not quantified due to it would cause undesired stress on the participant and interrupt the learning process.