Does higher surgeon technical skill reduce complication rates in patients undergoing surgery?
Higher surgeon technical skill is significantly associated with lower complication rates across procedures, highlighting the importance of skill improvement efforts.
The findings of this study suggest that there is wide variation in technical skill among practicing surgeons, accounting for more than 25% of the variation in patient outcomes. Higher colectomy technical skill scores appear to be associated with lower complication rates for colectomy and for all other procedures performed by a surgeon. Efforts to improve surgeon technical skills may result in better patient outcomes.
Stulberg et al. (Wed,) studied this question.
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