The objective assessment of surgical skill

Abstract

There are many facets to being a skilful surgeon. Knowledge of anatomy, pathophysiology, operative theory and practice are all of vital importance. In addition, skills in decision-making, communication and team-leadership are all needed. Psychomotor manual dexterity is also of importance, particularly when considering the field of minimal-access surqery (MAS). There is a growing need to be able to assess surgical ‘skill’, both for the purposes of training and for the maintenance of exemplary practice. Attempts by academia and industry to produce systems to give an objective assessment of surgical ‘skill’ have been fraught with difficulty. Objectively assessing such a multifaceted phenomenon as ‘surgical skill’ produces many problems. This article aims to highlight some of the difficulties encountered when trying to produce a system of objective assessment, with a particular focus on MAS, and describes some of the solutions that have been described.

Key Words:

• training
• surgical skill
• minimal access surgery