Communication delay increases procedure time and instructor task load during simulated suturing by novices
Albert Yeam, Khushi Bhatt, Katherine Hanna, Tovy Haber Kamine, Ariana M Nelson · 2026
Read Communication delay increases procedure time and instructor task load during simulated suturing by novices by Albert Yeam, Khushi Bhatt, Katherine Hanna, Tovy Haber Kamine, Ariana M Nelson (2026) in the Tower of Babel, a free online library of public-domain works preserved in clean, searchable text. No sign-up. The full text is served as a plain-text file at a predictable URL, where text is present: https://antarctic-labs.com/tower-of-babel/PMC13623917.txt.
Description
Albert Yeam and colleagues published a 2026 experiment on how communication delay affects remote teaching of stitching wounds, a problem that matters for spaceflight. On Moon or Mars missions, astronauts with little medical training may need ground experts to talk them through procedures, with signals delayed by seconds. The team simulated that setting with simple interrupted suturing.
Students with no suturing experience were split between near real-time guidance and a four-second delay, and each closed five stitches. The delayed group took longer overall, though the gap shrank by the fifth stitch as they adapted. Instructors reported clearly higher mental workload under delay. Finished stitch quality, however, matched between groups. The authors conclude that remote guidance of simple procedures by untrained hands is workable even with delay, while warning that instructor strain is the hidden cost planners must manage.
Catalog record
| CREATOR | Albert Yeam, Khushi Bhatt, Katherine Hanna, Tovy Haber Kamine, Ariana M Nelson |
|---|---|
| YEAR | 2026 |
| COLLECTION | PAPERS |
| FORMAT | TXT |
| FILE SIZE | 20251 |
| LICENSE | https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0 |
| RIGHTS | CC BY |
| SOURCE | Europe PMC |