The effect of positive emotion on residents’ learning performance of phacoemulsification

Objective To investigate the effect of positive emotions on operative skills and the related complications of phacoemulsication cataract surgeries at an early learning stage. Methods From Jun 2009 to Mar 2010,12 fellow students who took part in cataract surgery training program were divided into two groups （experimental group and control group）. The training course included attending lectures （theoretical study）, observing surgery, animal experiments and clinical practices, respectively. The 6 students in control group followed the classic training course while the other six in experimental group （were trained with the advanced course which laid emphasis on cultivating positive emotions. We use affect balance scale（ABS）and self-rating anxiety scale（SAS）to evaluate the effect of psychological inter-vention. Then ABS and SAS scores, the rates of major complications and surgical outcomes of the first 60 cases were recorded and compared. The data analyzed included peroperative and postoperative complications,the effective phaco time and the energy of the surgeries, postoperative visual acuity （1 week） and best corrected visual acuity （ BCVA） （1 week）. Results With the learning of lectures,＆amp;nbsp;observing surgery and animal experiments,all fellow students mastered the basic operating principles. After the clinical practices, all of them could complete the phacoemulsication cataract surgery independently. Significant differences were found between the 2 groups concerning to incision complication and CCC failure （P〈0. 05）. Posterior capsula rupture of experimental group was lower than that of control group, but didn’t reach significance （P〉0. 05）. Postoperative visual acuity and BCVA of experimental group was significantly better than control group （ P〈 0. 01,P〈0. 01）. Conclusions Phacoemulsification could be a safe procedure when learning step by step. Positive emotions are beneficial to shorten the learning curve of the surgery and facilitate the successful transition to phacoemul-sification. Key words: Phacoemulsification; Positive emotion; Surgery learning