A serious game for off-pump coronary artery bypass surgery procedure training.

We have begun development of an interactive, multi-player serious game for the purpose of training cardiac surgeons, fellows, and residents the series of steps comprising the Off-Pump Coronary Artery Bypass grafting (OPCAB) surgical procedure. It is hypothesized that by learning the OPCAB procedure in a "first-person-shooter gaming environment", trainees will have a much better understanding of the procedure than by traditional learning modalities. The serious game will allow for simulation parameters related to levels of fidelity to be easily adjusted so that the effect of fidelity on knowledge transfer can be examined.