Rantilini Samaratunga – PhD Student

Congratulations to PhD student Rantilini Samaratunga who has had her first peer-reviewed journal article “A review of participant recruitment transparency for sound validation of hip surgery simulators: a novel umbrella approach” published in the Journal of Medical Engineering and Technology.

Ranti collaborated with Professor Christos Gatzidis, Professor Ian Swain, Professor Robert Middleton, Associate Professor Tom Wainwright, and Student Research Assistant, Layla Johnson on the research project.

Results of search categorised by procedure type (Samaratunga et al. 2021)

The review examines how research studies have validated hip simulators, including fracture, arthroscopy and arthroplasty simulators.

The research team reviewed 46 validation studies. They found that there was no uniformity in reporting or recruitment criteria, rendering cross-comparison challenging.

This work developed novel umbrella categories to help prioritise recruitment, and has formulated a detailed template of fields and guidelines for reporting criteria so that, in the future, research may come to a consensus as to recruitment criteria for a hip “expert” or “novice”.

Ranti and Professor Middleton

Ranti said: “I am very excited to have this work published. It builds an excellent foundation for future research in this area. Furthermore, I hope this work will help to inform clinicians and technologists alike in validating surgical simulators in the future.”

The full-text can be accessed here.